Electrochemical Synthesis of Ammonia from Water and Nitrogen in Ethylenediamine under Ambient Temperature and Pressure

Abstract

In this study, a novel electrolysis cell based on ethylenediamine (EDA) as a cathodic solvent was developed for NH₃ electro-synthesis. The NH₃-generating cathode chamber was filled with 0.1 M LiCl/EDA and separated by a cation exchange membrane from the anodic compartment, which was filled with 0.05 M H₂SO₄ aqueous solution. It appeared that EDA was cathodically stable, and thus electron-stealing medium destruction was substantially avoided. The faradaic efficiency for NH₃ synthesis was 17.2%, producing 7.73 × 10⁻⁷ mol NH₃ for 1 h electrolysis at a cell voltage of 1.8 V with the charge consumption of 1.3 C.