Ammonia is a fertilizer raw material and the main component of cleaning products. It is even regarded as the carbon -free alternative to the future car fossil fuel. However, because the standard response is performed under high temperature and high pressure, the use of molecular nitrogen to synthesize ammonia is an energy dense industrial process. According to foreign media reports, researchers at the Berkeley Lab National Laboratory of the United States Department of Energy discovered a new method that can produce ammonia under room temperature and normal times.
Since 1909, the synthetic ammonia industry usually uses metal catalysts to transform molecular nitrogen (dual nitrogen, N2), that is, Haber-Bosch. Polly Arnold, head of the Berkeley Laboratory Department of Chemistry Science, found that catalysts made of rare earth metals at room temperature can promote this reaction. ARNOLD said: “No one predicts that this reaction will occur in rare earth metals. They have expanded our potential environmental condition catalyst.”
Rare earth metals have attracted much attention in applications such as electronics, laser and magnetic materials. Anthony Wong, the main thesis of this work, said: “In fact, rare earth metals are not rare. Some rare earth metals are almost as common as copper, and their salt ratio has less metal toxicity that has been used for catalytic processes.”
Since the 1990s, people have known that rare earth can be combined with molecular nitrogen. However, so far, researchers have been unable to use N2 to catalyze to generate nitrogen -function chemicals such as amino or amine. Wong, Arnold, and their colleagues designed compounds to connect two kinds of rare earth metals together by phenol salt (based on a simple antioxidant based on food).
The structure formed forms a rectangular cavity. The nitrogen molecules that spread to the cavity and the metal formation bond at both ends to activate the gas. Then, the electronic attack active nitrogen introduced from the potassium source destroys its chemical keys. In all standard forms, the transformed nitrogen and hydrogen atoms (or other reactions) form three covalent bonds to produce symmetrical amino or amine. ARNOLD said: “This catalyst can activate and maintain two nitrogen. At the same time, different reagents enter and reflect different products.” She intends to use electrodes instead of potassium tests as an electronic source in the next step. Regeneration.
The researchers will then explore how to adjust the shape and size of the Letterbox-Shaped Cavity to use additional nitrogen-containing products with rare earth synthesis. Wong said: “In the next step, we will explore and understand which rare earth metal properties will affect chemical reactions.”
New craftsmanship will not replace the widely used industrial Hubber-Bo Shi craftsmanship. Since 2020, global ammonia production has been hovering at about 200 million tons per year. The existing tools have been optimized and large -scale production efficiency is extremely high. But this consumes about 2%of the world’s energy, and ammonia in various places can gain sex. Wong said: “We need a better way to produce ammonia. These methods require lower energy density, and can be carried out at normal temperature and normal pressure to promote food and energy safety.” This patented technology helps to fertilize chemical fertilizers. And chemical -specific nitrogen products are transported to areas without pipelines, and the cost is much lower.