Thesis
New materials for electrochemical synthesis of ammonia
- Creator
- Rights statement
- Awarding institution
- University of Strathclyde
- Date of award
- 2014
- Thesis identifier
- T13697
- Qualification Level
- Qualification Name
- Department, School or Faculty
- Abstract
- This thesis has mainly focused on the electrochemical synthesis of ammonia at atmospheric pressure using three different catalyst types (nitride, spinel and perovskite). Attention also has been given to developing new electrolyte materials based on oxide-carbonate composites, with the aim of exploring their application in ammonia synthesis at low operating temperature (< 500 °C). Ammonia was synthesised from H? and N? using an electrolyte supported cell based on LiAlO?-(Li/Na/K)?CO? as electrolyte, Ag-Pd as anode and either nitride (e.g. Co?Mo?N) or spinel (CoFe?O?) as cathode. The maximum rate of ammonia formation (3.27 x 10?¹?10 mol s?¹ cm?² at 450 °C and 0.8 V) was obtained when Co?Mo?N was used as a cathode. Ammonia was also synthesised from H? and N? in an electrolytic cell based on Sm-doped ceria-carbonate composite (SDC-(Li/Na/K)?CO?) as an electrolyte, NiO-SDC as anode and perovskite oxide La?.?Sr?.?Fe?.?Cu?.?O?-? (LSFCu) catalyst as a cathode. The maximum rate was found to be 5.39 x 10?? mol s?¹ cm?² at 450 °C and 0.8 V. Ammonia was also synthesised successfully from water vapour (3% H?O) and nitrogen, using a new electrolyte material based on Ca and Gd co-doped ceria-carbonate composite (CGDC-(Li/Na/K)?CO?). Perovskite oxide Sm?.?Sr?.?CoO?-? (SSCo) was used as an anode and either spinel or perovskite based catalysts were used as cathodes. The maximum rate of ammonia formation (4.0 x 10?¹? mol s?¹ cm?² at 375 °C and 1.4 V) was attained with a La?.??Sr?.??Cr?.?Fe?.?O?-? (LSCrF) cathode. Ammonia was synthesised directly from air and water vapour (3% H?O) in a symmetrical cell composed of LSCrF as electrodes (cathode and anode) and CGDC-(Li/Na/K)?CO? composite as electrolyte. The maximum rate was found to be 1.94x10?¹¹ mol s?¹ cm?² at 375 °C with an applied voltage of 1.2 V.
- Resource Type
- Note
- This thesis was previously held under moratorium from 8th May 2014 until 8th May 2016.
- DOI
- Date Created
- 2014
- Former identifier
- 1028994
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