Volume 243, 2023

Concluding remarks: Sustainable nitrogen activation – are we there yet?

Abstract

The activation of dinitrogen as a fundamental step in reactions to produce nitrogen compounds, including ammonia and nitrates, has a cornerstone role in chemistry. Bringing together research from disparate fields where this can be achieved sustainably, this Faraday Discussion seeks to build connections between approaches that can stimulate further advances. In this paper we set out to provide an overview of these different approaches and their commonalities. We explore experimental aspects including the positive role of increasing nitrogen pressure in some fields, as well as offering perspectives on when 15N2 experiments might, and might not, be necessary. Deconstructing the nitrogen reduction reaction, we attempt to provide a common framework of energetic scales within which all of the different approaches and their components can be understood. On sustainability, we argue that although green ammonia produced from a green-H2-fed Haber–Bosch process seems to fit the bill, there remain many real-world contexts in which other, sustainable, approaches to this vital reaction are urgently needed.

Graphical abstract: Concluding remarks: Sustainable nitrogen activation – are we there yet?

Associated articles

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
02 May 2023
Accepted
05 May 2023
First published
08 May 2023

Faraday Discuss., 2023,243, 557-570

Concluding remarks: Sustainable nitrogen activation – are we there yet?

D. R. MacFarlane, A. N. Simonov, T. M. Vu, S. Johnston and L. M. Azofra, Faraday Discuss., 2023, 243, 557 DOI: 10.1039/D3FD00087G

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