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DOE OSTI · 1647311

Peptide Control of Electrocatalyst Surface Environment and Catalyst Structure: A Design Platform to Enable Mechanistic Understanding and Synthesis of Active and Selective N2 Reduction Catalysts

Renner, Julie N.·Greenlee, Lauren F.·Janik, Michael J.·Loney, Charles·Bakovic, Sergio I. P.·Maheshwari, Sharad
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Abstract

Low-temperature electrochemical ammonia synthesis with heterogeneous catalysts suffers from extremely low Faradaic efficiencies (< 1%). The hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) is predicted and experimentally demonstrated to outcompete the nitrogen reduction reaction (N2RR). Meanwhile, the nitrogenase enzymes found in nature enable selective N2RR at Fe/Mo metal centers. Montoya and co-authors suggest that a successful transition metal N2RR catalyst will deviate from or completely circumvent current linear scaling relationships. We propose an approach where short-chain peptides (3-20 amino acids) will be used to control the local surface environment of catalysts. This peptide-based design strategy will be used to overcome HER selectivity and the limitations of *NxHy adsorbate scaling.

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08 HYDROGEN10 SYNTHETIC FUELS32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATION36 MATERIALS SCIENCEammonia synthesisdensity functional theoryElectrocatalysispeptide engineeringtransition metal oxides

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Renner, Julie N., Greenlee, Lauren F., Janik, Michael J., Loney, Charles, Bakovic, Sergio I. P., Maheshwari, Sharad. 2020-08-13. Peptide Control of Electrocatalyst Surface Environment and Catalyst Structure: A Design Platform to Enable Mechanistic Understanding and Synthesis of Active and Selective N2 Reduction Catalysts. https://doi.org/10.2172/1647311

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