Imperial College London
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Prof. Ifan E. L. Stephens

Faculty of Engineering, Department of Materials

Professor in Electrochemistry
 
 
 
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Contact

 

+44 (0)20 7594 9523i.stephens Website

 
 
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Location

 

Molecular Sciences Research HubWhite City Campus

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Summary

 

Publications

Citation

BibTex format

@article{Tort:2023:10.1021/acscatal.3c03951,
author = {Tort, R and Bagger, A and Westhead, O and Kondo, Y and Khobnya, A and Winiwarter, A and Davies, BJV and Walsh, A and Katayama, Y and Yamada, Y and Ryan, MP and Titirici, M-M and Stephens, IEL},
doi = {10.1021/acscatal.3c03951},
journal = {ACS Catalysis},
pages = {14513--14522},
title = {Searching for the rules of electrochemical nitrogen fixation},
url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acscatal.3c03951},
volume = {13},
year = {2023}
}
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RIS format (EndNote, RefMan)

TY  - JOUR
AB  - Li-mediated ammonia synthesis is, thus far, the only electrochemical method for heterogeneous decentralized ammonia production. The unique selectivity of the solid electrode provides an alternative to one of the largest heterogeneous thermal catalytic processes. However, it is burdened with intrinsic energy losses, operating at a Li plating potential. In this work, we survey the periodic table to understand the fundamental features that make Li stand out. Through density functional theory calculations and experimentation on chemistries analogous to lithium (e.g., Na, Mg, Ca), we find that lithium is unique in several ways. It combines a stable nitride that readily decomposes to ammonia with an ideal solid electrolyte interphase, balancing reagents at the reactive interface. We propose descriptors based on simulated formation and binding energies of key intermediates and further on hard and soft acids and bases (HSAB principle) to generalize such features. The survey will help the community toward electrochemical systems beyond Li for nitrogen fixation.
AU  - Tort,R
AU  - Bagger,A
AU  - Westhead,O
AU  - Kondo,Y
AU  - Khobnya,A
AU  - Winiwarter,A
AU  - Davies,BJV
AU  - Walsh,A
AU  - Katayama,Y
AU  - Yamada,Y
AU  - Ryan,MP
AU  - Titirici,M-M
AU  - Stephens,IEL
DO  - 10.1021/acscatal.3c03951
EP  - 14522
PY  - 2023///
SN  - 2155-5435
SP  - 14513
TI  - Searching for the rules of electrochemical nitrogen fixation
T2  - ACS Catalysis
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acscatal.3c03951
UR  - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/38026818
UR  - https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acscatal.3c03951
UR  - http://hdl.handle.net/10044/1/108333
VL  - 13
ER  -
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