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2020.07.16 Running on Empty: New Afforedable Catalyst Relies on Nitrogen Vacancies to Produce Ammonia

　　　Scientists at Tokyo Institute of Technology (Tokyo Tech) have developed a new and more effective catalyst for synthesizing ammonia that does not comprise rare metals. Ammonia is one of the most widely produced chemicals in the world for use as a key ingredient in many valuable chemical products such as fertilizers. It is also expected to be an efficient hydrogen carrier because it is easily liquefiable and has a high hydrogen content in the liquefied state. By exploring a new design concept based around nitrogen vacancies, they created an inexpensive catalyst from abundantly available elements that still achieves state-of-the-art performance.

Tokyo Tech News

Paper: Nature
       Title: Vacancy-enabled N2 activation for ammonia synthesis on an Ni-loaded catalyst
　　　Author: Tian-Nan Ye, Sang-Won Park, Yangfan Lu, Jiang Li, Masato Sasase, Masaaki Kitano, Tomofumi Tada, and Hideo Hosono
　　　DOI: 10.1038/s41586-020-2464-9