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Murphy, Eamonn

Publications and source records attributed to Murphy, Eamonn.

10 records
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2024

Synergizing Fe 2 O 3 Nanoparticles on Single Atom Fe‐N‐C for Nitrate Reduction to Ammonia at Industrial Current Densities

The electrochemical reduction of nitrates (NO 3 − ) enables a pathway for the carbon neutral synthesis of ammonia (NH 3 ), via the nitrate reduction reaction (NO 3 RR), which has been demonstrated at high selectivity. However, to make NH 3 synthesis cost-competitive with current technologies, high NH 3 partial current densities (j NH3 ) must be achieved to reduce the levelized cost of NH 3 . Here, the high NO 3 RR activity of Fe-based materials is leveraged to synthesize a novel active particle-active support system with Fe 2 O 3 nanoparticles supported on atomically dispersed Fe–N–C. The optimized 3×Fe 2 O 3 /Fe–N–C catalyst demonstrates an ultrahigh NO 3 RR activity, reaching a maximum j NH3 of 1.95 A cm −2 at a Faradaic efficiency (FE) for NH 3 of 100% and an NH 3 yield rate over 9 mmol hr −1 cm −2 . Operando XANES and post-mortem XPS reveal the importance of a pre-reduction activation step, reducing the surface Fe 2 O 3 (Fe 3+ ) to highly active Fe 0 sites, which are maintained during electrolysis. Durability studies demonstrate the robustness of both the Fe 2 O 3 particles and Fe–N x sites at highly cathodic potentials, maintaining a current of −1.3 A cm −2 over 24 hours. This work exhibits an effective and durable active particle-active support system enhancing the performance of the NO 3 RR, enabling industrially relevant current densities and near 100% selectivity.

active support↗
DOE OSTI2023

Chemical Kinetic Method for Active-Site Quantification in Fe-N-C Catalysts and Correlation with Molecular Probe and Spectroscopic Site-Counting Methods

Mononuclear Fe ions ligated by nitrogen (FeN x ) dispersed on nitrogen-doped carbon (Fe-N-C) serve as active centers for electrocatalytic O 2 reduction and thermocatalytic aerobic oxidations. Despite their promise as replacements for precious metals in a variety of practical applications, such as fuel cells, the discovery of new Fe-N-C catalysts has relied primarily on empirical approaches. In this context, the development of quantitative structure–reactivity relationships and benchmarking of catalysts prepared by different synthetic routes and by different laboratories would be facilitated by the broader adoption of methods to quantify atomically dispersed FeN x active centers. In the present study, we develop a kinetic probe reaction method that uses the aerobic oxidation of a model hydroquinone substrate to quantify the density of FeN x centers in Fe- N-C catalysts. The kinetic method is compared with low-temperature Mössbauer spectroscopy, CO pulse chemisorption, and electrochemical reductive stripping of NO derived from NO 2 – on a suite of Fe-N-C catalysts prepared by diverse routes and featuring either the exclusive presence of Fe as FeN x sites or the coexistence of aggregated Fe species in addition to FeN x . The FeN x site densities derived from the kinetic method correlate well with those obtained from CO pulse chemisorption and Mössbauer spectroscopy. The broad survey of Fe-N-C materials also reveals the presence of outliers and challenges associated with each site quantification approach. Furthermore, the kinetic method developed here does not require pretreatments that may alter active-site distributions nor specialized equipment beyond reaction vessels and analytical instrumentation (e.g., NMR).

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2023

Elucidating electrochemical nitrate and nitrite reduction over atomically-dispersed transition metal sites

Abstract Electrocatalytic reduction of waste nitrates (NO 3 − ) enables the synthesis of ammonia (NH 3 ) in a carbon neutral and decentralized manner. Atomically dispersed metal-nitrogen-carbon (M-N-C) catalysts demonstrate a high catalytic activity and uniquely favor mono-nitrogen products. However, the reaction fundamentals remain largely underexplored. Herein, we report a set of 14; 3 d -, 4 d -, 5 d - and f -block M-N-C catalysts. The selectivity and activity of NO 3 − reduction to NH 3 in neutral media, with a specific focus on deciphering the role of the NO 2 − intermediate in the reaction cascade, reveals strong correlations (R=0.9) between the NO 2 − reduction activity and NO 3 − reduction selectivity for NH 3 . Moreover, theoretical computations reveal the associative/dissociative adsorption pathways for NO 2 − evolution, over the normal M-N 4 sites and their oxo-form (O-M-N 4 ) for oxyphilic metals. This work provides a platform for designing multi-element NO 3 RR cascades with single-atom sites or their hybridization with extended catalytic surfaces.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2022

Synergistic Electrocatalytic Syngas Production from Carbon Dioxide by Bi‐Metallic Atomically Dispersed Catalysts

Abstract The production of syngas by traditional processes such as steam methane reforming is energetically intensive and produces a large amount of CO 2 emissions. In contrast, the electrochemical CO 2 reduction reaction (CO 2 RR) enables the carbon neutral production of syngas at ambient conditions. Among non‐precious metal catalysts, metal‐nitrogen‐carbon electrocatalysts are inexpensive and highly selective towards syngas production. This study examined the selectivity of mono‐ and bi‐metallic (M−N−C, M=Fe, Mo or FeMo) electrocatalysts towards syngas production. The ratio of the CO : H 2 in the syngas was tuned by modifying the ratio of the metallic precursors in the bi‐metallic FeMo−N−C catalysts, tailoring the catalysts’ selectivity towards the CO 2 RR or the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). The catalyst synthesis temperature(s) were considered as they influence the catalyst morphology and activity. Further, the dependence of the ratio of CO : H 2 in the syngas as a function of the potential was explored for the different bi‐metallic catalysts. This work showed that by tailoring both the ratio of Fe : Mo in the bi‐metallic catalyst and optimizing the reductive potential, a CO : H 2 ratio between 0.25 to 5 was achievable. This study demonstrated a novel approach in which the ratio of the product syngas composition could be tailored in a single reaction, without the need for further downstream processing to reach a desired composition.

Delafontaine, Laurent↗
DOE OSTI2022

Robust palladium hydride catalyst for electrocatalytic formate formation with high CO tolerance

Palladium is unique in the electrocatalytic reduction of CO 2 to formate because of its low or even near-equilibrium onset potential. However, the inevitably produced CO molecules poison and deactivate the catalyst surface, resulting in an insufficient operating lifetime (<30 min) for conventional and optimized Pd catalysts. In this work, we present a hydrogen-rich Palladium hydride catalyst (PdH0.5/C) derived from a one-step solvothermal synthesis. This catalyst showed a 93.1 % faradaic efficiency towards formate at – 0.4 V (vs RHE). The working lifetime reached a record of 4 h, which was ~15 times longer than a commercial Pd catalyst and outperformed all previous Pd-based electrocatalysts for CO 2 -HCOO – conversion. The high CO tolerance was attributed to the selectivity improvement induced by lattice hydrogen and the weak CO adsorption strength on diverse active sites (i.e. kink, step, and terrace). Isotopic analysis revealed a direct participation of the lattice hydrogen in the protonation of CO 2 molecules in formate formation.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2022

Catalysts by pyrolysis: Direct observation of transformations during re-pyrolysis of transition metal-nitrogen-carbon materials leading to state-of-the-art platinum group metal-free electrocatalyst

Transition metal-nitrogen-carbon (M-N-C) materials have been the focus of scientists’ efforts to address the rising need for earth-abundant materials solutions for energy technology and decarbonization of the economy. They are viewed as one of the most promising candidates to replace platinum group metal (PGM) catalysts in the fuel cell and energy conversion fields, including the application of oxygen reduction reaction, carbon dioxide reduction reaction, and nitrogen reduction reaction. In the effort to improve M-N-C materials properties and achieve atomic dispersity of the transition metal in the carbonaceous matrix, a re-pyrolysis process has been proposed. This secondary heat treatment process of already obtained primary pyrolysis-derived M-N-C materials has been widely reported to substantially improve the electrochemical performance and operational stability of the catalysts. Here, we report a systematic investigation of this process used on samples of templated M-N-C catalysts to obtain state-of-the-art catalysts via in situ heating X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and X-ray computed tomography (CT) characterization methods. It is found that the re-pyrolysis of M-N-C materials could result in the partial amorphization of the carbonaceous substrate. It causes the rearrangement and transformation of multitudinous N moieties, leading to optimization of their morphological display and association with atomically dispersed transition metal dopants. Ultimately, the re-pyrolysis results in an increase in uniformity of the active Fe-Nx sites distribution without the formation of nano-crystalline phases (metallic or carbide) and with overall preservation of the morphology of the carbonaceous framework achieved during the first formative pyrolysis step of the templated synthesis. Finally, these observations provide confirmation that empirically established re-pyrolysis is recommended to be used on all M-N-C materials despite the different synthesis routes to obtain a practical advanced catalytic material.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2020

Facile All-Optical Method for In Situ Detection of Low Amounts of Ammonia

As a key precursor for nitrogenous compounds and fertilizer, ammonia affects our lives in numerous ways. Rapid and sensitive detection of ammonia is essential, both in environmental monitoring and in process control for industrial production. Here we report a novel and nonperturbative method that allows rapid detection of ammonia at low concentrations, based on the all-optical detection of surface-enhanced Raman signals. We show that this simple and affordable approach enables ammonia probing at selected regions of interest with high spatial resolution, making in situ and operando observations possible.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗