Photo-Electrochemical Ammonia Synthesis

Ammonia holds great promise as a carbon-neutral liquid fuel for storing intermittent renewable energy sources and power generation due to its high energy density and hydrogen content. Photo-Electrochemical Ammonia Synthesis: Nanocatalyst Discovery, Reactor Design, and Advanced Spectroscopy covers the synthesis of novel hybrid plasmonic nanomaterials and their application in photo-electrochemical systems to convert low energy molecules to high value-added molecules and looks specifically at photo-electrochemical nitrogen reduction reaction (NRR) for ammonia synthesis as an attractive alternative to the long-lasting thermochemical process. - Provides an integrated scientific framework, combining materials chemistry, photo-electrochemistry, and spectroscopy to overcome the challenges associated with renewable energy storage and transport - Reviews materials chemistry for the synthesis of a range of heterogeneous (photo) electrocatalysts including plasmonic and hybrid plasmonic-semiconductor nanostructures for selective and efficient conversion of N2 to NH3 - Covers novel reactor design to study the redox processes in the photo-electrochemical energy conversion system and to benchmark nanocatalysts' selectivity and activity toward NRR - Discusses the use of advanced spectroscopic techniques to probe the reaction mechanism for ammonia synthesis - Offers techno-economic analysis and presents performance targets for the scale-up and commercialization of electrochemical ammonia synthesis This book is of value to researchers, advanced students, and industry professionals working in sustainable energy storage and conversion across the disciplines of Chemical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Materials Science and Engineering, Environmental Engineering, and related areas.

Mohammadreza Nazemi is a postdoctoral fellow in the School of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech). He received his Ph.D. from the Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering at Georgia Tech under the supervision of Prof. Mostafa El-Sayed in May 2020. He received his BS degree (2013) in Aerospace Engineering from the Sharif University of Technology and MS degree (2015) in Mechanical Engineering from Michigan Technological University. His current research focuses on the development and testing of hollow plasmonic nanostructures for photoelectrochemical energy generation. In addition, he is using ultrafast spectroscopy to study the energy transfer in plasmonic nanomaterials and semiconductors. Mostafa A. El-Sayed is the director of the Laser Dynamics Laboratory, Regents' Professor and Julius Brown Chair in the School of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech). He obtained his Ph.D. from Florida State University in 1959 with Michael Kasha, and after postdoctoral fellowships at Harvard, Yale, and Caltech, he joined the faculty of School of Chemistry and Biochemistry at UCLA in 1961 and Georgia Tech later in 1994. He is currently an elected member of the U.S. National Academy of Science, an elected fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, former editor-in-chief of the Journal of Physical Chemistry. He is the recipient of several prestigious awards including ACS Priestly medal, Ahmed Zewail prize in molecular sciences, the ACS Irving Langmuir Prize in Chemical Physics, the Glenn T. Seaborg Medal, and the U.S. National Medal of Science. He was included in the top 1% most cited researchers in 2017 and 2018 (web of science).

Chapter 1: Introduction to Ammonia. 2. Conventional Methods for Nitrogen Fixation. 3. Electrocatalytic Nitrogen Fixation. 4. Plasma-Driven Nitrogen Fixation. 5. Electrochemical Reactor Design. 6. Photocatalytic Nitrogen Fixation. 7. Ammonia Detection. 8. Reaction Mechanisms for Nitrogen Fixation. 9. Performance Targets and Future Outlook for Alternative Routes of Ammonia Synthesis. 10. Conclusion