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Updated: Feb 1, 2026
Ammonia Synthesis at Low Pressure
Published on: August 23, 2017
Electrochemical Hydrogenation with Gaseous Ammonia
Jin Li1,2, Lingfeng He1, Xu Liu1
1Institute of Chemistry and Biomedical Sciences, Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Advanced Organic Materials, National Demonstration Center for Experimental Chemistry, Education, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Nanjing University, Xianlin Rd. 163, Nanjing, 210023, China.
Abstract:
As a carbon-free and sustainable fuel, ammonia serves as high-energy-density hydrogen-storage material. It is important to develop new reactions able to utilize ammonia as a hydrogen source directly. Herein, we report an electrochemical hydrogenation of alkenes, alkynes, and ketones using ammonia as the hydrogen source and carbon electrodes. A variety of heterocycles and functional groups, including for example sulfide, benzyl, benzyl carbamate, and allyl carbamate were well tolerated. Fast stepwise electron transfer and proton transfer processes were proposed to account for the transformation.
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