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 میٔ 2023
Accepted
05 میٔ 2023
First published
08 میٔ 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

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements