An inexpensive catalyst has been discovered that utilizes the energy of light to convert ammonia into usable hydrogen fuel. Rice University researchers engineered this nanomaterial that might have broad implications for the hydrogen economy. Using just economical raw materials, the team of scientists made a scalable catalyst that needs light power to turn ammonia into a hydrogen fuel that burns cleanly.
The potential implications for this in a hydrogen economy are profound. Hydrogen might be produced in a sustainable fashion that doesn’t cost much. It could also happen locally instead of in larger centralized facilities. This would reduce much of the danger or the cumbersome nature of production and delivery.
This particular research was published in the journal titled Science on November 24. The team responsible was a mix of researchers and scientists from the Laboratory for Nanophotonics at Rice University, Syzygy Plasmonics Inc, and the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment at Princeton University.
Interest in a hydrogen economy is high because of greenhouse warming from fossil fuels and what it’s doing to the environment. Liquid ammonia fuels can be carbon-free and serve as a source of hydrogen power. Investments in such energy sources are building infrastructure and even some market demand for applications like these. Liquid ammonia is considered to have promise as a future source of energy and fuel because it’s easy to move around and has a lot of energy. This compound has one nitrogen atom for every three hydrogen atoms in every molecule.
This new catalyst can break ammonia molecules down from NH3 into H2 and N2. H2 is a clean-burning fuel that doesn’t pollute, whereas N2 is nitrogen gas that is the biggest portion of the planet’s atmosphere. Many traditional catalysts require a heat source, but this one doesn’t. It just needs energy from light. That can come from energy-efficient LEDs, but sunlight works, too.
Chemical reactions proceed at a pace that usually goes up with temperature. For over a hundred years, chemical production has utilized this fact by applying heat to chemical processes at an industrial level. Fossil fuel consumption raises the temperatures of big reaction vessels, but they do so by hundreds or even thousands of degrees Fahrenheit. That results in a serious carbon footprint. Many organizations producing chemicals also pour billions of dollars yearly into thermocatalysts, materials that do not react but speed up reactions when intense heat is applied.
Iron and other transition metals are usually not great thermocatalysts. However, this new work demonstrates how they might be efficient sources of plasmonic photocatalysts. It also illustrates how photocatalysts can work efficiently even when using economic sources of LED photons.
This opens the door to small-scale hydrogen production on a widespread local level instead of using huge plants in centralized locations. The logistical consequences of this could make it much easier to gradually get the hydrogen economy to ramp up at local and regional levels. The more the hydrogen economy takes over, the less demand and use of fossil fuels there will be. Lowering carbon emissions is crucial to managing global warming and slowing climate change. This process of making hydrogen doesn’t involve carbon emissions since the molecule is missing entirely.
Fossil fuels can hurt the environment three or even four times. Environmental degradation can happen not just because of their use but also their raw extraction, industrial processing, and transportation. Hydrogen appeals to many as an alternative because it can burn clean, but questions remain surrounding its production and transport. The possibility of using cheap materials and LED light or even sunshine to make it is a very appealing prospect that might help advance the hydrogen economy from theory to daily reality in many lives.
