Professor Hideo Hosono and Professor Tokazu Hara of Tokyo Institute of Technology have succeeded in increasing the activity of the catalyst used for ammonia synthesis by more than 10 times.In addition to being a raw material for fertilizers, it may be possible to more efficiently produce ammonia, which has begun to attract attention as a carrier for hydrogen energy.
For this reason, catalysts that can synthesize ammonia at low temperatures and low pressures are attracting attention. A substance called C12A7 electride is a catalyst that can synthesize ammonia even at normal pressure.However, it had a problem that the effect of promoting the reaction was insufficient and the production efficiency was poor.Therefore, the group enhanced the movement of electrons inside the catalyst by sprinkling a metal called ruthenium on the surface of the catalyst.When the efficiency of the catalyst subjected to this treatment was measured, it became clear that the catalytic activity was more than 10 times higher.
Ammonia has an impressive strong odor, but it is also a very important substance in industry.And it is expected that its importance will increase more and more toward the transition to a hydrogen-based society.In addition to meeting that demand, it is expected to contribute to reducing fertilizer production costs.