<p>Development of methods for economically feasible greener ammonia (NH<sub>3</sub>)
production is gaining tremendous scientific attention. NH<sub>3</sub> has its
importance in fertilizer industry and it is envisaged as a safer liquid
hydrogen carrier for futuristic energy resources. Here, an aqueous electrolysis
based NH<sub>3</sub> production in ambient conditions is reported, which yields
high faradaic efficiency (~12%) NH<sub>3 </sub><i>via</i> nitrogen reduction reaction (NRR) at lower over potentials (~ -0.6V <i>vs.</i> RHE or -1.1V <i>vs.</i> Ag/AgCl). Polycrystalline
copper (Cu) and gold (Au) are used as electrodes for electrochemical NRR, where
the electrolyte which yields high amount of NH<sub>3 </sub>(~41 µmol/L) is 5M LiClO<sub>4</sub>
in water with Cu as working electrode. A detailed study conducted here
establishes the role of Li<sup>+</sup> in stabilizing nitrogen near to the
working electrode - augmenting the NRR in comparison to its competitor -
hydrogen evolution reaction, and a mechanistic insight in to the phenomenon is
provided. <sup>15</sup>N<sub>2</sub> assisted labeling experiments are also
conducted to confirm the formation of ammonia <i>via</i> NRR. This study opens up the possibilities of developing
economically feasible electrodes for electrochemical NRR at lower energies with
only transient modifications of electrodes during the electrolysis, unlike the
studies reported on complex electrodes or electrolytes designed for NRR in
aqueous medium to suppress the hydrogen generation. </p>
Enhancing the rate of electrochemical nitrogen reduction reaction for ammonia synthesis under ambient conditions using hollow gold nanocages
