journal article·2025-04Open access

Industrial‐current Ammonia Synthesis by Polarized Cuprous Cyanamide Coupled to Valorization of Glycerol at 4,000 mA cm−2

Jiacheng (Jayden) Wang, Huong T. D. Bui, Huashuai Hu, Shuyi Kong, Xunlu Wang, Hongbo Zhu, Junqing Ma, Jintao Xu, Yihong Liu, Lijia Liu, Wei Chen, Hui Bi, Minghui Yang, Fuqiang Huang, Tore Brinck, Jiacheng Wang

Advanced Materials· Volume 37· Issue 14

Abstract

Abstract The electrocatalytic nitrate reduction (NO3RR) holds significance in both NH3 synthesis and nitrate contamination remediation. However, achieving industrial‐scale current and high stability in membrane electrode assembly (MEA) electrolyzer remains challenging due to inherent high full‐cell voltage for sluggish NO3RR and water oxidation. Here, Cu2NCN with positive surface electrostatic potential VS(r) is applied as highly efficient NO3RR electrocatalysts to achieve industrial‐current and low‐voltage stable NH3 production in MEA electrolyzer with coupled anodic glycerol oxidation. This paired electro‐refinery (PER) system reaches 4000 mA cm−2 at 2.52 V and remains stable at industrial‐level 1000 mA cm−2 for 100 h with the NH3 production rate of 97000 µgNH3 h−1 cm−2 and a Faradaic efficiency of 83%. Theoretical calculations elucidate that the asymmetric and electron‐withdrawing [N−C≡N] units enhance polarization and VS(r), promoting robust and asymmetric adsorption of NO3* on Cu2NCN to facilitate O−N bond dissociation. A comprehensive techno‐economic analysis demonstrates the profitability and commercial viability of this coupled system. Our work opens a new avenue and marks a significant advancement in MEA systems for industrial NH3 synthesis.
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Research context

OpenAlex topics: Ammonia Synthesis and Nitrogen Reduction · Advanced Photocatalysis Techniques · Nanomaterials for catalytic reactions

SciVX discovery tags are terminology-based. OpenAlex topics are source-provided classifications.

Affiliations

The State Key Laboratory of High‐Performance Ceramics and Superfine Microstructure Shanghai Institute of Ceramics Chinese Academy of Sciences Shanghai 200050 China

Center of Materials Science and Optoelectronics Engineering University of Chinese Academy of Sciences Beijing 100049 China

Department of Chemistry CBH KTH Royal Institute of Technology Stockholm SE‐100 44 Sweden

School of Environmental Science and Technology Dalian University of Technology Dalian 116024 China

State Key Laboratory of Metal Matrix Composites School of Materials Science and Engineering Shanghai Jiao Tong University Shanghai 200240 China

Department of Chemistry Western University 1151 Richmond Street London ON N6A5B7 Canada

Department of Materials Design and Innovation University at Buffalo The State University of New York Buffalo NY 14260 USA

Zhejiang Key Laboratory for Island Green Energy and New Materials Institute of Electrochemistry School of Materials Science and Engineering Taizhou University Taizhou 318000 China

Key Laboratory of Advanced Energy Materials Chemistry (Ministry of Education) Nankai University Tianjin 300071 China

Funding

Science and Technology Commission of Shanghai Municipality · Program of Shanghai Academic Research Leader · Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada · Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities · Vetenskapsrådet · National Natural Science Foundation of China

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