Novel nanomaterials for efficient photocatalytic ammonia synthesis
type: CreativeWork
description: Ammonia is a key industrial raw material for fertilizers, chemicals and energy. The annual artificial ammonia synthesis via the Haber-Bosch process causes about 2% of global energy consumption and can lead to 1.6% CO₂ emission. Therefore, it is urgent to develop low-cost and environmentally friendly approaches for artificial ammonia synthesis under ambient conditions. In this thesis, we summarized the current research status. Besides, a new concept of “artificial nitrogen cycle process based on photochemical and electrochemical reactions” was proposed. Through nanostructure control, metal modification, small π-conjugated molecule modification, plasma modification, several kinds of novel nanomaterials were developed and achieved highly efficient artificial ammonia synthesis under ambient conditions. A facile approach was used to prepare defective g-C₃N₄ nanorods with a narrower bandgap and a sub-gap, which can significantly enhance the light utilization ratio. More importantly, the defects of g-C₃N₄ nanorods can also enhance light absorption and boost the cleavage of N₂ molecules, which is the rate-determining step of nitrogen fixation. Compared with bulk g-C₃N₄, the photocatalytic N₂ reduction rate of defective g-C₃N₄ nanorods as the catalysts was increased by 3.66 times. We also report a novel bismuth bromide oxide (BiOBr)-Tetracyanoquinodimethane (TCNQ) photocatalyst prepared via a facile self-assembly method. Due to the well-match band structure of TCNQ and BiOBr, the separation and transfer of photogenerated electron-hole pairs were significantly boosted. The highest ammonia yield of the optimized sample reached 2.617 mg/h/gcat, which was 5.6-fold as that of pristine BiOBr and higher than the reported BiOBr-based photocatalysts. Nitrate is a crucial environmental pollutant and its risk on the ecosystem keeps increasing. In this thesis, we reported a green and facile synthesis of novel metallic ruthenium particle modified graphitic carbon nitride photocatalysts. …
abstract: Ammonia is a key industrial raw material for fertilizers, chemicals and energy. The annual artificial ammonia synthesis via the Haber-Bosch process causes about 2% of global energy consumption and can lead to 1.6% CO₂ emission. Therefore, it is urgent to develop low-cost and environmentally friendly approaches for artificial ammonia synthesis under ambient conditions. In this thesis, we summarized the current research status. Besides, a new concept of “artificial nitrogen cycle process based on photochemical and electrochemical reactions” was proposed. Through nanostructure control, metal modification, small π-conjugated molecule modification, plasma modification, several kinds of novel nanomaterials were developed and achieved highly efficient artificial ammonia synthesis under ambient conditions. A facile approach was used to prepare defective g-C₃N₄ nanorods with a narrower bandgap and a sub-gap, which can significantly enhance the light utilization ratio. More importantly, the defects of g-C₃N₄ nanorods can also enhance light absorption and boost the cleavage of N₂ molecules, which is the rate-determining step of nitrogen fixation. Compared with bulk g-C₃N₄, the photocatalytic N₂ reduction rate of defective g-C₃N₄ nanorods as the catalysts was increased by 3.66 times. We also report a novel bismuth bromide oxide (BiOBr)-Tetracyanoquinodimethane (TCNQ) photocatalyst prepared via a facile self-assembly method. Due to the well-match band structure of TCNQ and BiOBr, the separation and transfer of photogenerated electron-hole pairs were significantly boosted. The highest ammonia yield of the optimized sample reached 2.617 mg/h/gcat, which was 5.6-fold as that of pristine BiOBr and higher than the reported BiOBr-based photocatalysts. Nitrate is a crucial environmental pollutant and its risk on the ecosystem keeps increasing. In this thesis, we reported a green and facile synthesis of novel metallic ruthenium particle modified graphitic carbon nitride photocatalysts. …
author: Hao, Qiang
language: en_US
date published: 2021
date modified: 2026-07-24T06:32:42Z
provider: University of Technology Sydney
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: University of Technology Sydney

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property ID: Handle
value: http://hdl.handle.net/10453/156117