Electrochemical Synthesis of Ammonia from Water and Nitrogen: A Lithium‐Mediated Approach Using Lithium‐Ion Conducting Glass Ceramics

Abstract Lithium‐mediated reduction of dinitrogen is a promising method to evade electron‐stealing hydrogen evolution, a critical challenge which limits faradaic efficiency (FE) and thus hinders the success of traditional protic‐solvent‐based ammonia electro‐synthesis. A viable implementation of the lithium‐mediated pathway using lithium‐ion conducting glass ceramics involves i) lithium deposition, ii) nitridation, and iii) ammonia formation. Ammonia was successfully synthesized from molecular nitrogen and water, yielding a maximum FE of 52.3 %. With an ammonia synthesis rate comparable to previously reported approaches, the fairly high FE demonstrates the possibility of using this nitrogen fixation strategy as a substitute for firmly established, yet exceedingly complicated and expensive technology, and in so doing represents a next‐generation energy storage system.