Electrochemical Conversion of NO to NH<sub>3</sub> in a PEM Cell
Sorin Bunea, Manoj Coppens, Atsushi Urakawa
Abstract
High Resolution Image Download MS PowerPoint Slide The continuous electrochemical NO reduction to ammonia in a PEM cell was investigated in this work. We used a ruthenium-based catalyst at the cathode and an iridium oxide catalyst at the anode. The highest ammonia faradaic efficiency was observed at 1.9 V cell voltage. Adjusting the NO flow allowed to achieve 97% NO conversion and 93% ammonia faradaic efficiency for a 5.2% NO/He feed. The ammonia yield was 0.51 mmol cm –2 h –1, among the highest reported to date with the advantage of continuous operation. Experiments with a low NO concentration feed of 983 ppm showed 98% conversion at 0 V vs pseudo-RHE. Achieving this performance under such mild conditions indicates the great potential of the PEM cells for NO x abatement applications and the production of valuable NH 3 .