About the Project
Ammonia is a critical chemical feedstock and energy carrier, central to global agriculture and increasingly important in the emerging hydrogen economy. However, its large-scale production today remains dominated by the energy-intensive Haber–Bosch process, which operates at high temperatures (400–500 °C) and pressures (150–300 bar).. To enable a sustainable transition, there is a growing need for alternative catalytic pathways capable of producing ammonia under milder operating conditions, ideally compatible with renewable energy sources.
This project seeks to design, synthesise, and investigate highly-active metal complexes that can catalyse ammonia production under low-temperature and low-pressure conditions. By leveraging the tunability of metal–ligand environments, these complexes offer opportunities to promote efficient nitrogen activation and hydrogenation without the severe energy requirements of traditional approaches.
The research will focus on the following areas:
•Ligand and metal selection: Developing complexes based on earth-abundant transition metals (e.g., Fe, Co, Ni, Mo) with carefully designed ligands to stabilise active species and lower the energy barrier for N₂ activation.
•Mechanistic studies: Using spectroscopic and electrochemical techniques to elucidate the reaction pathways, including N₂ binding, activation, and stepwise proton-coupled electron transfer.
•Catalyst optimisation: Exploring strategies to improve turnover frequency, selectivity, and durability under ambient or near-ambient conditions.
•Integration with hydrogen sources: Evaluating compatibility with green hydrogen or alternative hydrogen carriers to ensure alignment with sustainable energy inputs.
By advancing fundamental understanding and practical design of molecular catalysts for ammonia synthesis, this project has the potential to provide a low-carbon alternative to the Haber–Bosch process. Successful outcomes would contribute not only to decarbonising ammonia production for fertiliser industries but also to enabling its role as a clean hydrogen carrier, thereby supporting global net-zero ambitions.