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Title: Beyond fossil fuel–driven nitrogen transformations

Abstract

Nitrogen is fundamental to all of life and many industrial processes. The interchange of nitrogen oxidation states in the industrial production of ammonia, nitric acid, and other commodity chemicals is largely powered by fossil fuels. Here, a key goal of contemporary research in the field of nitrogen chemistry is to minimize the use of fossil fuels by developing more efficient heterogeneous, homogeneous, photo-, and electrocatalytic processes or by adapting the enzymatic processes underlying the natural nitrogen cycle. These approaches, as well as the challenges involved, are discussed in this Review.

Authors:
ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [2]; ORCiD logo [3]; ORCiD logo [4]; ORCiD logo [5];  [6]; ORCiD logo [7]; ORCiD logo [8];  [9]; ORCiD logo [10]; ORCiD logo [8]; ORCiD logo [11]; ORCiD logo [12]; ORCiD logo [13]; ORCiD logo [14]; ORCiD logo [15]; ORCiD logo [16]
  1. Columbia Univ., New York, NY (United States); Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)
  2. The Univ. of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX (United States)
  3. Utah State Univ., Logan, UT (United States)
  4. Univ. of Rochester, Rochester, NY (United States)
  5. Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
  6. Texas A & M Univ., College Station, TX (United States)
  7. Yale Univ., New Haven, CT (United States)
  8. Northwestern Univ., Evanston, IL (United States)
  9. Pennsylvania State Univ., University Park, PA (United States)
  10. Arizona State Univ., Tempe, AZ (United States)
  11. National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
  12. Cornell Univ., Ithaca, NY (United States)
  13. Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)
  14. Washington State Univ., Pullman, WA (United States)
  15. Univ. of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN (United States)
  16. Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
OSTI Identifier:
1440394
Report Number(s):
NREL/JA-2700-70628
Journal ID: ISSN 0036-8075
Grant/Contract Number:  
AC36-08GO28308
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Science
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 360; Journal Issue: 6391; Journal ID: ISSN 0036-8075
Publisher:
AAAS
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
09 BIOMASS FUELS; nitrogen; fossil fuels; chemistry

Citation Formats

Chen, Jingguang G., Crooks, Richard M., Seefeldt, Lance C., Bren, Kara L., Bullock, R. Morris, Darensbourg, Marcetta Y., Holland, Patrick L., Hoffman, Brian, Janik, Michael J., Jones, Anne K., Kanatzidis, Mercouri G., King, Paul, Lancaster, Kyle M., Lymar, Sergei V., Pfromm, Peter, Schneider, William F., and Schrock, Richard R.. Beyond fossil fuel–driven nitrogen transformations. United States: N. p., 2018. Web. doi:10.1126/science.aar6611.
Chen, Jingguang G., Crooks, Richard M., Seefeldt, Lance C., Bren, Kara L., Bullock, R. Morris, Darensbourg, Marcetta Y., Holland, Patrick L., Hoffman, Brian, Janik, Michael J., Jones, Anne K., Kanatzidis, Mercouri G., King, Paul, Lancaster, Kyle M., Lymar, Sergei V., Pfromm, Peter, Schneider, William F., & Schrock, Richard R.. Beyond fossil fuel–driven nitrogen transformations. United States. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aar6611
Chen, Jingguang G., Crooks, Richard M., Seefeldt, Lance C., Bren, Kara L., Bullock, R. Morris, Darensbourg, Marcetta Y., Holland, Patrick L., Hoffman, Brian, Janik, Michael J., Jones, Anne K., Kanatzidis, Mercouri G., King, Paul, Lancaster, Kyle M., Lymar, Sergei V., Pfromm, Peter, Schneider, William F., and Schrock, Richard R.. Fri . "Beyond fossil fuel–driven nitrogen transformations". United States. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aar6611. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1440394.
@article{osti_1440394,
title = {Beyond fossil fuel–driven nitrogen transformations},
author = {Chen, Jingguang G. and Crooks, Richard M. and Seefeldt, Lance C. and Bren, Kara L. and Bullock, R. Morris and Darensbourg, Marcetta Y. and Holland, Patrick L. and Hoffman, Brian and Janik, Michael J. and Jones, Anne K. and Kanatzidis, Mercouri G. and King, Paul and Lancaster, Kyle M. and Lymar, Sergei V. and Pfromm, Peter and Schneider, William F. and Schrock, Richard R.},
abstractNote = {Nitrogen is fundamental to all of life and many industrial processes. The interchange of nitrogen oxidation states in the industrial production of ammonia, nitric acid, and other commodity chemicals is largely powered by fossil fuels. Here, a key goal of contemporary research in the field of nitrogen chemistry is to minimize the use of fossil fuels by developing more efficient heterogeneous, homogeneous, photo-, and electrocatalytic processes or by adapting the enzymatic processes underlying the natural nitrogen cycle. These approaches, as well as the challenges involved, are discussed in this Review.},
doi = {10.1126/science.aar6611},
journal = {Science},
number = 6391,
volume = 360,
place = {United States},
year = {Fri May 25 00:00:00 EDT 2018},
month = {Fri May 25 00:00:00 EDT 2018}
}

Journal Article:
Free Publicly Available Full Text
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Cited by: 1069 works
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Figures / Tables:

Figure 1 Figure 1: Atom and energy economy of nitrogen fixation. The numerical values represent standard (14) Gibbs free energies in kJ/mol of fixed $N$2 in the direction of the arrows. All thermochemical data are from (15), except for H2NOH.

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Anion (O, N, C, and S) vacancies promoted photocatalytic nitrogen fixation
journal, January 2019

  • Mao, Chengliang; Wang, Jiaxian; Zou, Yunjie
  • Green Chemistry, Vol. 21, Issue 11
  • DOI: 10.1039/c9gc01010f

Single molybdenum center supported on N-doped black phosphorus as an efficient electrocatalyst for nitrogen fixation
journal, January 2019

  • Ou, Pengfei; Zhou, Xiao; Meng, Fanchao
  • Nanoscale, Vol. 11, Issue 28
  • DOI: 10.1039/c9nr02586c

Excitonic Au 4 Ru 2 (PPh 3 ) 2 (SC 2 H 4 Ph) 8 cluster for light-driven dinitrogen fixation
journal, January 2020

  • Sun, Yongnan; Pei, Wei; Xie, Mingcai
  • Chemical Science, Vol. 11, Issue 9
  • DOI: 10.1039/c9sc06424a

Bimetallic Ag 3 Cu porous networks for ambient electrolysis of nitrogen to ammonia
journal, January 2019

  • Yu, Hongjie; Wang, Ziqiang; Yang, Dandan
  • Journal of Materials Chemistry A, Vol. 7, Issue 20
  • DOI: 10.1039/c9ta03297e

Theoretical insights into nonprecious oxygen-evolution active sites in Ti–Ir-Based perovskite solid solution electrocatalysts
journal, January 2020

  • Shi, Lei; Chen, Hui; Liang, Xiao
  • Journal of Materials Chemistry A, Vol. 8, Issue 1
  • DOI: 10.1039/c9ta10059h

Electrochemical synthesis of nitric acid from air and ammonia through waste utilization
journal, February 2019

  • Wang, Yuting; Yu, Yifu; Jia, Ranran
  • National Science Review, Vol. 6, Issue 4
  • DOI: 10.1093/nsr/nwz019

Dissociating stable nitrogen molecules under mild conditions by cyclic strain engineering
journal, November 2019


Visible-Light Bismuth Iron Molybdate Photocatalyst for Artificial Nitrogen Fixation
journal, January 2019

  • Liu, Botong; Yasin, Alhassan S.; Musho, Terrence
  • Journal of The Electrochemical Society, Vol. 166, Issue 5
  • DOI: 10.1149/2.0151905jes

Selective Electrochemical Reduction of Nitrogen to Ammonia by Adjusting the Three-Phase Interface
journal, November 2019


A General Strategy to Glassy M‐Te (M = Ru, Rh, Ir) Porous Nanorods for Efficient Electrochemical N 2 Fixation
journal, February 2020


Atomic Modulation, Structural Design, and Systematic Optimization for Efficient Electrochemical Nitrogen Reduction
journal, January 2020


Aryldiazonium Salts as Nitrogen-Based Lewis Acids: Facile Synthesis of Tuneable Azophosphonium Salts
journal, August 2018

  • Habraken, Evi R. M.; van Leest, Nicolaas P.; Hooijschuur, Pim
  • Angewandte Chemie, Vol. 130, Issue 37
  • DOI: 10.1002/ange.201806913

A Combined Theory‐Experiment Analysis of the Surface Species in Lithium‐Mediated NH 3 Electrosynthesis
journal, January 2020

  • Schwalbe, Jay A.; Statt, Michael J.; Chosy, Cullen
  • ChemElectroChem, Vol. 7, Issue 7
  • DOI: 10.1002/celc.201902124

Formation of carbon–nitrogen bonds in carbon monoxide electrolysis
journal, August 2019


One-pot synthesis of bi-metallic PdRu tripods as an efficient catalyst for electrocatalytic nitrogen reduction to ammonia
journal, January 2019

  • Wang, Hongjing; Li, Yinghao; Li, Chunjie
  • Journal of Materials Chemistry A, Vol. 7, Issue 2
  • DOI: 10.1039/c8ta09482a

B 4 C nanosheets decorated with in situ -derived boron-doped graphene quantum dots for high-efficiency ambient N 2 fixation
journal, January 2019

  • Qiu, Wei-Bin; Luo, Yu-Xi; Liang, Ru-Ping
  • Chemical Communications, Vol. 55, Issue 51
  • DOI: 10.1039/c9cc03413g

Morphology-dependent electrocatalytic nitrogen reduction on Ag triangular nanoplates
journal, January 2019

  • Gao, Wen-Yan; Hao, Yu-Chen; Su, Xin
  • Chemical Communications, Vol. 55, Issue 72
  • DOI: 10.1039/c9cc04691g

Tuning the catalytic activity of a single Mo atom supported on graphene for nitrogen reduction via Se atom doping
journal, January 2019

  • Zhou, Hong Yu; Li, Jian Chen; Wen, Zi
  • Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, Vol. 21, Issue 27
  • DOI: 10.1039/c9cp02733e

Understanding electro-catalysis by using density functional theory
journal, January 2019

  • Chen, Z. W.; Chen, L. X.; Wen, Z.
  • Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, Vol. 21, Issue 43
  • DOI: 10.1039/c9cp04430b

Selective decontamination of the reactive air pollutant nitrous acid via node-linker cooperativity in a metal–organic framework
journal, January 2019

  • McGrath, Devon T.; Ryan, Michaela D.; MacInnis, John J.
  • Chemical Science, Vol. 10, Issue 21
  • DOI: 10.1039/c9sc01357a

Electron distribution tuning of fluorine-doped carbon for ammonia electrosynthesis
journal, January 2019

  • Yuan, Di; Wei, Zengxi; Han, Peng
  • Journal of Materials Chemistry A, Vol. 7, Issue 28
  • DOI: 10.1039/c9ta04141a

Facile, cost-effective plasma synthesis of self-supportive FeS x on Fe foam for efficient electrochemical reduction of N 2 under ambient conditions
journal, January 2019

  • Xiong, Wei; Guo, Zheng; Zhao, Shijun
  • Journal of Materials Chemistry A, Vol. 7, Issue 34
  • DOI: 10.1039/c9ta07790a

W supported on g-CN manifests high activity and selectivity for N 2 electroreduction to NH 3
journal, January 2020

  • Wang, Shuhua; Wei, Wei; Lv, Xingshuai
  • Journal of Materials Chemistry A, Vol. 8, Issue 3
  • DOI: 10.1039/c9ta10935h

Complete cleavage of the N≡N triple bond by Ta 2 N + via degenerate ligand exchange at ambient temperature: A perfect catalytic cycle
journal, October 2019

  • Geng, Caiyun; Li, Jilai; Weiske, Thomas
  • Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Vol. 116, Issue 43
  • DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1913664116

Specific energy cost for nitrogen fixation as NO x using DC glow discharge in air
journal, November 2019

  • Pei, Xuekai; Gidon, Dogan; Graves, David B.
  • Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics, Vol. 53, Issue 4
  • DOI: 10.1088/1361-6463/ab5095

Molybdenum Carbide Nanodots Enable Efficient Electrocatalytic Nitrogen Fixation under Ambient Conditions
journal, October 2018

  • Cheng, Hui; Ding, Liang-Xin; Chen, Gao-Feng
  • Advanced Materials, Vol. 30, Issue 46
  • DOI: 10.1002/adma.201803694

High Efficiency Electrochemical Nitrogen Fixation Achieved with a Lower Pressure Reaction System by Changing the Chemical Equilibrium
journal, September 2019

  • Cheng, Hui; Cui, Peixin; Wang, Fangrui
  • Angewandte Chemie International Edition, Vol. 58, Issue 43
  • DOI: 10.1002/anie.201910658

A Combined Theory‐Experiment Analysis of the Surface Species in Lithium‐Mediated NH 3 Electrosynthesis
journal, April 2020

  • Schwalbe, Jay A.; Statt, Michael J.; Chosy, Cullen
  • ChemElectroChem, Vol. 7, Issue 7
  • DOI: 10.1002/celc.202000265

Advanced Non‐metallic Catalysts for Electrochemical Nitrogen Reduction under Ambient Conditions
journal, July 2019

  • Zhang, Lili; Chen, Gao‐Feng; Ding, Liang‐Xin
  • Chemistry – A European Journal, Vol. 25, Issue 54
  • DOI: 10.1002/chem.201901668

Electrochemical nitrogen fixation and utilization: theories, advanced catalyst materials and system design
journal, January 2019

  • Guo, Wenhan; Zhang, Kexin; Liang, Zibin
  • Chemical Society Reviews, Vol. 48, Issue 24
  • DOI: 10.1039/c9cs00159j

Pt-embedded in monolayer g-C 3 N 4 as a promising single-atom electrocatalyst for ammonia synthesis
journal, January 2019

  • Yin, Hui; Li, Shu-Long; Gan, Li-Yong
  • Journal of Materials Chemistry A, Vol. 7, Issue 19
  • DOI: 10.1039/c9ta01624d

Atomically dispersed metal dimer species with selective catalytic activity for nitrogen electrochemical reduction
journal, January 2019

  • Li, Yang; Zhang, Qi; Li, Can
  • Journal of Materials Chemistry A, Vol. 7, Issue 39
  • DOI: 10.1039/c9ta07845b

Atomically Dispersed Molybdenum Catalysts for Efficient Ambient Nitrogen Fixation
journal, January 2019


Enhancement of Selective Fixation of Dinitrogen to Ammonia under Modal Strong Coupling Conditions
journal, April 2020

  • Oshikiri, Tomoya; Shi, Xu; Misawa, Hiroaki
  • European Journal of Inorganic Chemistry, Vol. 2020, Issue 15-16
  • DOI: 10.1002/ejic.202000340

Ammonia Synthesis Under Ambient Conditions: Selective Electroreduction of Dinitrogen to Ammonia on Black Phosphorus Nanosheets
journal, January 2019

  • Zhang, Lili; Ding, Liang‐Xin; Chen, Gao‐Feng
  • Angewandte Chemie, Vol. 131, Issue 9
  • DOI: 10.1002/ange.201813174

Catalytic Ammonia Oxidation to Dinitrogen by Hydrogen Atom Abstraction
journal, June 2019

  • Bhattacharya, Papri; Heiden, Zachariah M.; Chambers, Geoffrey M.
  • Angewandte Chemie International Edition, Vol. 58, Issue 34
  • DOI: 10.1002/anie.201903221

Fluorine-free Ti 3 C 2 T x (T = O, OH) nanosheets (∼50–100 nm) for nitrogen fixation under ambient conditions
journal, January 2019

  • Li, Tengfei; Yan, Xudong; Huang, Lujun
  • Journal of Materials Chemistry A, Vol. 7, Issue 24
  • DOI: 10.1039/c9ta03254a

Atomic Modulation, Structural Design, and Systematic Optimization for Efficient Electrochemical Nitrogen Reduction
journal, January 2020


Omeprazole Treatment Enhances Nitrogen Use Efficiency Through Increased Nitrogen Uptake and Assimilation in Corn
journal, December 2019

  • Van Oosten, Michael James; Dell’Aversana, Emilia; Ruggiero, Alessandra
  • Frontiers in Plant Science, Vol. 10
  • DOI: 10.3389/fpls.2019.01507

Selective Electrochemical Reduction of Nitrogen to Ammonia by Adjusting the Three-Phase Interface
journal, November 2019


Figures/Tables have been extracted from DOE-funded journal article accepted manuscripts.