Many MindedSingapore team keeps an ammonia-to-hydrogen catalyst alive for 2,000 hours
Researchers at the National University of Singapore have developed a way to keep a catalyst working far longer when it splits ammonia into hydrogen and nitrogen using electricity. The work was led by Professor Chen Wei, with Assistant Professor Ou Pengfei and Professor Fan Lei of the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China. It was published in Nature Synthesis in 2026, with Rui Jiang as first author.
The catalyst, Pt/Fe-NC, is platinum nanoparticles on nitrogen-doped carbon that holds single iron atoms. Platinum normally fades because its surface oxidizes and gets blocked by nitrogen. Here, electron transfer from the iron-carbon support suppresses oxidation and speeds up the rate-limiting dehydrogenation step. The iron-nitrogen sites also promote water splitting, which hydrogenates the nitrogen species fouling the platinum and frees the blocked sites. Under the tested conditions, activity was more than 10 times that of a commercial platinum-on-carbon catalyst.
Regeneration combined periodic reversal of the electrical current, occasional acid washing and topping up the ammonia. Hydrogen production held for over 2,000 hours at low current and 500 hours at substantially higher current, both at 80°C. The same catalyst also works for hydrogen production, so it can serve both reactions in the process.
Why it matters: ammonia is easier to store and ship than hydrogen, but the hydrogen has to be released at the destination. A catalyst that lasts longer means less downtime and fewer replacements, which lowers the cost of using ammonia as an energy carrier for power and transport.
Caveats: these are laboratory results, and the researchers say further work is needed at larger scales. The 10-fold advantage applies only to the tested conditions. Use in direct ammonia fuel cells is a suggestion, not something demonstrated.
Source: Phys.org