The Development of Selective and Robust Ammonia Oxidation Electrocatalysts

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This proposal brings together an international team of experts to explore the use of ammonia as a carbon-free fuel via the development of transition metal electrocatalysts for the ammonia oxidation reaction (AOR). Ammonia has the potential to be an ideal energy carrier due to its' high hydrogen content and energy density, facile and scalable storage and transportation, and zero-carbon emission. However, the current bottleneck in the widespread use of NH3 as a fuel is the development of efficient and robust catalysts for the AOR. Our international team has the combined skill set to tackle this bottleneck, including expertise in the synthesis and characterization of new molecular catalysts, electrochemical studies, characterization of key species using advanced spectroscopic techniques, and theoretical calculations to better understand the AOR pathway. We will investigate heterogeneous preparations of promising molecular catalysts to explore AOR systems that can be applied at scale. This new collaboration will address a critical challenge in the utilization of ammonia as a carbon-free fuel, and the development of efficient and robust catalysts for the AOR may be transferable to the direct ammonia fuel cell, and even the removal of ammonia from wastewater. In addition, innovation in this area will stimulate the development of green ammonia synthesis technology, which is critical to the long-term utilization of ammonia as a carbon-free fuel, thereby furthering Canadian research innovation in renewable energies.