A Brief Assessment on Recent Developments in Efficient Electrocatalytic Nitrogen Reduction with 2D Non-Metallic Nanomaterials

Muhammad Shahid; Hafiz Muhammad Asif Javed; Muhammad Irfan Ahmad; Akbar Ali Qureshi; Muhammad Ijaz Khan; Maha Abdallah Alnuwaiser; Arslan Ahmed; Muhammad Azhar Khan; El Sayed Mohamed Tag-ElDin; Arslan Shahid; Aiman Rafique

doi:10.3390/nano12193413

A Brief Assessment on Recent Developments in Efficient Electrocatalytic Nitrogen Reduction with 2D Non-Metallic Nanomaterials

Nanomaterials (Basel). 2022 Sep 29;12(19):3413. doi: 10.3390/nano12193413.

Affiliations

¹ Nanomaterials and Solar Energy Research Laboratory, Department of Physics, University of Agriculture Faisalabad, Faisalabad 38000, Pakistan.
² Department of Mechanical Engineering, Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan 60000, Pakistan.
³ Department of Mechanics and Engineering Science, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China.
⁴ Department of Mechanical Engineering, Lebanese American University, Beirut P.O. Box 13-5053, Lebanon.
⁵ Department of Chemistry, College of Science, Princes Nourah Bin Abdulrahman University, Riyadh 11671, Saudi Arabia.
⁶ Department of Mechanical Engineering, COMSATS University Islamabad, Wah Campus, Rawalpindi 47010, Pakistan.
⁷ Department of Physics, The Islamia University of Bahawalpur, Bahawalpur 63100, Pakistan.
⁸ Faculty of Engineering and Technology, Future University in Egypt, New Cairo 11835, Egypt.

Abstract

In recent years, the synthesis of ammonia (NH₃) has been developed by electrocatalytic technology that is a potential way to effectively replace the Haber-Bosch process, which is an industrial synthesis of NH₃. Industrial ammonia has caused a series of problems for the population and environment. In the face of sustainable green synthesis methods, the advantages of electrocatalytic nitrogen reduction for synthesis of NH₃ in aqueous media have attracted a great amount of attention from researchers. This review summarizes the recent progress on the highly efficient electrocatalysts based on 2D non-metallic nanomaterial and provides a brief overview of the synthesis principle of electrocatalysis and the performance measurement indicators of electrocatalysts. Moreover, the current development of N₂ reduction reaction (NRR) electrocatalyst is discussed and prospected.

Keywords: electrocatalytic conversion; nitrogen fixation; nitrogen reduction; synthetic ammonia.

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the Higher Education Commission (HEC) of Pakistan under Grant # 9371/Punjab/NRPU/R&D/HEC/2017. Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University Researchers Supporting Project number (PNURSP2022R186), Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.