Efficient Nitrogen Fixation Catalyzed by Gallium Nitride Nanowire Using Nitrogen and Water
Mingxin Liu,
Yichen Wang,
Xianghua Kong,
Lida Tan,
Lu Li,
Shaobo Cheng,
Gianluigi Botton,
Hong Guo,
Zetian Mi,
Chao-Jun Li
Affiliations
Mingxin Liu
Department of Chemistry and FRQNT Centre for Green Chemistry and Catalysts, McGill University, 801 Sherbrooke Ouest, Montreal, QC H3A 0B8, Canada; Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, University of Michigan, 1301 Beal Avenue, Ann Arhor, MI 48109, USA
Yichen Wang
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, McGill University, 3480 University, Montreal, QC H3A 0E9, Canada
Xianghua Kong
Department of Physics, McGill University, Rutherford Building, 3600 University, Montreal, QC H3A 2T8, Canada
Lida Tan
Department of Chemistry and FRQNT Centre for Green Chemistry and Catalysts, McGill University, 801 Sherbrooke Ouest, Montreal, QC H3A 0B8, Canada
Lu Li
State Key Laboratory of Inorganic Synthesis and Preparative Chemistry, Chemistry Department, Jilin University, Changchun, China
Shaobo Cheng
Department of Material Science and Engineering, Canadian Centre for Electron Microscopy, McMaster University, 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, ON L8S 4M1, Canada
Gianluigi Botton
Department of Material Science and Engineering, Canadian Centre for Electron Microscopy, McMaster University, 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, ON L8S 4M1, Canada
Hong Guo
Department of Physics, McGill University, Rutherford Building, 3600 University, Montreal, QC H3A 2T8, Canada
Zetian Mi
Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, University of Michigan, 1301 Beal Avenue, Ann Arhor, MI 48109, USA; Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, McGill University, 3480 University, Montreal, QC H3A 0E9, Canada; Corresponding author
Chao-Jun Li
Department of Chemistry and FRQNT Centre for Green Chemistry and Catalysts, McGill University, 801 Sherbrooke Ouest, Montreal, QC H3A 0B8, Canada; Corresponding author
Summary: Ammonia is one of the most important bulk chemicals in modern society. However, the highly energy-extensive contemporary industrial production of ammonia was developed in the early 20th century and requires extensive heating of highly pressurized flammable hydrogen gas, whose global production still relies heavily on non-sustainable petroleum. The development of “sustainable” nitrogen fixation process represents a grand aspirational chemical pursuit concerning our future human well-being. Herein, we report an ultra-stable nitride-based photosensitizing semiconductor that enables efficient, sustainable, and mild photochemical nitrogen fixation. The catalyst exhibits strong chemisorption of nitrogen and enables immediate electron donation from its surface vacancy to nitrogen. In addition, it was also demonstrated that the nitride-based semiconductor possesses the potential to minimize electron-hole recombination. : Chemical Reaction; Catalysis; Density Functional Theory (DFT); Nanostructure Subject Areas: Chemical Reaction, Catalysis, Density Functional Theory (DFT), Nanostructure
