Electrochemical synthesis of ammonia in molten salt electrolyte using hydrogen and nitrogen at ambient pressure

In this study, the synthesis of ammonia (NH3) at ambient pressure using H₂ and N₂ is electrochemically achieved. The conducting and reaction media with molten salt consist of molten hydroxide as NaOH and KOH whereas the reaction temperature is varied in the range of 200°C to 255°C to investigate the impact of temperature on the ammonia production rate and hence performance. The porous nickel mesh electrodes having an area of 100 cm² are used as cathode and anode where the supplied electricity is controlled using potentiostat/galvanostat. The maximum faradaic efficiency for ammonia synthesis is found to be 9.3% at 210°C corresponding to 6.53 × 10−¹⁰ mol/s cm² ammonia evolution rate at 2 mA/cm² current density with nano-Fe₃O₄ as the catalyst. Furthermore, the applied voltages and applied currents are varied to find the optimum experimental conditions for molten salt electrolyte based electrochemical ammonia synthesis.