Journal
NATURE REVIEWS METHODS PRIMERS
Volume 1, Issue 1, Pages -Publisher
SPRINGERNATURE
DOI: 10.1038/s43586-021-00053-y
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Funding
- Toyota Research Institute through the Accelerated Materials Design and Discovery Program
- Imperial-MIT Department of Materials Exchange Program
- Villum Fonden, Villum Center for the Science of Sustainable Fuels and Chemicals (V-SUSTAIN grant) [9455]
- Innovationsfonden (E-ammonia grant) [9067-00010B]
- National Natural Science Foundation of China [21633011, 21988101]
- National Science Foundation [1943707]
- Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council [EP/M0138/1]
- European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union [866402]
- National Research Council Canada through the Materials for Clean Fuels Challenge Program
- European Research Council (ERC) [866402] Funding Source: European Research Council (ERC)
- Div Of Chem, Bioeng, Env, & Transp Sys
- Directorate For Engineering [1943707] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
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The article introduces the importance of the industrial Haber-Bosch process for producing ammonia in modern society, discusses the challenges of N-2 activation and the drawbacks of the Haber-Bosch process, proposes new strategies for sustainable N-2 activation, compares the latest research results from different catalytic reactions, and discusses best practices for improving reproducibility and cost-effective methods for rigorous experimentation.
The industrial Haber-Bosch process to produce ammonia (NH3) from dinitrogen (N-2) is crucial for modern society. However, N-2 activation is inherently challenging and the Haber-Bosch process has significant drawbacks, as it is highly energy intensive, is not sustainable owing to substantial CO2 emissions primarily from the generation of H-2 and requires large, centralized facilities. New strategies of sustainable N-2 activation, such as low-temperature thermochemical catalysis and (photo)electrocatalysis, have been pursued, but progress has been hindered by the lack of rigour and reproducibility in the collection and analysis of results. In this Primer, we provide a holistic step by step protocol, applicable to all nitrogen-transformation reactions, focused on verifying genuine N-2 activation by accounting for all contamination sources. We compare state-of-the-art results from different catalytic reactions following the protocol's framework, and discuss necessary reporting metrics and ways to interpret both experimental and density functional theory results. This Primer covers various common pitfalls in the field, best practices to improve reproducibility and cost-efficient methods to carry out rigorous experimentation. The future of nitrogen catalysis will require an increase in rigorous experimentation and standardization to prevent false positives from appearing in the literature, which can enable advancing towards practical technologies for the activation of N-2.
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