Strategically designed catalysts for ammonia synthesis under mild conditions: recent advances and challenges

Abstract

The role of ammonia would continue to be significant in the changing energy landscape with focus on mitigating the carbon footprint per unit of ammonia produced. Since ammonia is a zero-carbon molecule and increasingly considered an important hydrogen energy carrier for future energy systems, its generation under mild conditions and subsequent industrial acceptance are critical. Therefore, the recent challenges include designing and engineering alternative greener methods that can generate ammonia at low input energy and facilitate inexpensive, localized, and renewable energy-coupled ammonia generation. This review underscores the recent developments in the design strategies of novel catalysts, particularly emphasizing the recent advances in different classes of thermal, electrochemical, and non-thermal plasma catalysis that can generate ammonia under mild conditions. Hence, this article can serve as a comprehensive work for engineering novel catalysts and methods, contributing to the generation of sustainable and cost-efficient solutions for expanding the landscape of ammonia applications.