Electrochemical ammonia splitting as a route for extracting hydrogen from ammonia is plagued by relatively high oxidation overpotentials. Such requirements for an extra energy input are often caused by the sluggish kinetics associated to the multi-electron, multi-proton nature of the oxidation of ammonia to dinitrogen (N2). A molecular catalyst added homogeneously to the solutions of ammonia, is a novel approach to assist the kinetics of the oxidation process and consequently lower the required overpotentials. In this dissertation, ruthenium (II) polypyridyl ammine complexes are employed as homogeneous catalysts for electro-oxidation of ammonia in tetrahydrofuran (THF) at room temperature and ambient pressure. Oxidation of ammonia was conducted in the presence of the catalyst at a constant applied anodic potential and evolution of N2 and H2 gases as the products of the electrolysis was confirmed by gas chromatography. The possibility of a heterogenous mechanism.
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