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Bioelectrochemical haber-bosch process: an ammonia-producing h2/n2fuel cell

Milton, Ross D.
; 
Cai, Rong
; 
Abdellaoui, Sofiene
; 
Leech, Dónal
; 
De Lacey, Antonio L.
; 
Pita, Marcos
; 
Minteer, Shelley D.
Identifiers
http://hdl.handle.net/10379/12906
 https://doi.org/10.13025/26651
Publication Date
2017-02-03
Keywords
ammonia, fuel cells, haber-bosch process, nitrogen reduction, nitrogenase, azotobacter-vinelandii, nitrogenase, reduction, protein, iron
Type
Article
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Citation
Milton, Ross D. Cai, Rong; Abdellaoui, Sofiene; Leech, Dónal; De Lacey, Antonio L.; Pita, Marcos; Minteer, Shelley D. (2017). Bioelectrochemical haber-bosch process: an ammonia-producing h2/n2fuel cell. Angewandte Chemie International Edition 56 (10), 2680-2683
Abstract
Nitrogenases are the only enzymes known to reduce molecular nitrogen (N-2) to ammonia (NH3). By using methyl viologen (N, N'-dimethyl-4,4'-bipyridinium) to shuttle electrons to nitrogenase, N-2 reduction to NH3 can be mediated at an electrode surface. The coupling of this nitrogenase cathode with a bioanode that utilizes the enzyme hydrogenase to oxidize molecular hydrogen (H-2) results in an enzymatic fuel cell (EFC) that is able to produce NH3 from H-2 and N-2 while simultaneously producing an electrical current. To demonstrate this, a charge of 60 mC was passed across H-2/ N-2 EFCs, which resulted in the formation of 286 nmol NH3 mg (-1) MoFe protein, corresponding to a Faradaic efficiency of 26.4%.
Funder
Publisher
Wiley-Blackwell
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Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Ireland
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Externally hosted open access publications with University of Galway authors (2)