NITROGEN-LIGHT · Photo(electro)catalytic Nitrogen Fixation
Horizon 2020 — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
- Duration
- 2021-01-01 → 2025-03-31
- EU contribution
- €251,003
- Participants
- 2
- Scheme
- MSCA-IF
Lines connect the coordinator with its partners.
Results in brief
Photo(electro)catalytic Nitrogen Fixation
From the start, the project aimed to develop an integrated photo(electro)lyzer capable of oxidizing water to oxygen and reducing nitrogen to ammonia (see image below). Often called the "holy grail" of chemistry, this approach offers a carbon-free energy pathway. Ammonia is a key fertilizer and a potential fuel cell energy carrier, though the latter is still under development. With the urgent need to reduce our carbon footprint and move beyond fossil fuels, the project’s focus on solar energy is especially relevant. Solar power offers over 1,000 times the potential of other renewables, making it a highly promising energy source for long-term innovation. Our goal is to create a proof-of-concept device that mimics photosynthesis. Though still in early stages, developing a dual-compartment system at the microscale marks a critical step forward. As a result, we began early-stage reactor integration. The water oxidation unit was designed for easy coupling with the nitrogen fixation compartment, which is the first example of using light to overcome nitrogen’s kinetic barrier—an exciting innovation in the field.
Data: CORDIS, © European Union
Project objective
Despite the intensive effort on nitrogen photofixation, there is a clear gap in the design of the catalytic system at the molecular/atomic level: at the same time, the majority of literature examples for nitrogen photo(electro)reduction employed only Uv-Vis semiconductor based systems with poor control on the molecular aspects of photo(electro)catalysis. NITROGEN-LIGHT lies in the panorama of nitrogen reduction, but offering a new point of view. This project aims to develop a photoelectrolyser to efficiently convert nitrogen to ammonia, but exploiting semiconductor surfaces decorated with controlled molecular assemblies of visible-light sensitisers and nitrogen-activating multi-redox catalysts. The advantage of the molecular design is the possibility to easily tune the redox properties of active sites and the stabilization of nitrogen-derived intermediates, with the final aim of: syncronizing photo-induced electron/proton transfer (PCET), lowering the energy barrier and optimizing the quantum efficiency. Success in this task will be instrumental for the fabrication of novel photocathodes for N2RR, to be integrated within a PEC device, in combination with photoanodes for water oxidation. The photoelectrode assembly for the final device will build on the state-of-the-art expertise and recent achievements of the CalTech and the Padova group, while frontier studies on the photophysics of selected molecular assemblies, to be performed with secondment visits at the Prague Institute, will guide the overall component choice and synthetic modification.
Original text from CORDIS.
Participants
- UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DI PADOVA · PadovaCoordinatorItaly
- CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGYCORP · PasadenaUnited States
Links
Data: CORDIS, © European Union