Applied Chemistry

Biography

Biography: Akira Katayama

Abstract

An ionic liquid, which is a salt in a liquid state under ambient conditions, has recently been employed in a number of different research fields, because it has several unique properties such as low volatility, large electrochemical window, high thermal and chemical stabilities, and high electric conductivity. The reduction of small molecule, such as CO_2, O₂, in ionic liquid has been researched because the reactivity is different from that in conventional organic solvents. On the other hand, the reduction of N₂ in ionic liquid has never been reported. We have reported the first example of the electrochemical reduction of N₂ to NH₃ using the W E coated with Cp₂TiCl₂–supported ionic liquid under ambient conditions.  In this study, we used the ionic liquid, 1−butyl−1−methylpyrrolidinium tris (pentafluoroethyl) trifluoro−phosphate ([C₉H₂₀N]⁺[(C₂F₅)₃PF₃]^–), which is appropriate for use as a supporting material, because of its high chemical stability. When the controlled potential electrolysis was carried out at -1.5 V (vs. Ag/AgCl), the yield of NH₃ per Cp₂TiCl₂ and current efficiency were 27% and 0.2%, respectively, which are significantly higher in comparison with those reported previously. In this paper, we will report the controlled potential electrolysis by Cp₂TiCl₂^- supported [C₉H₂₀N]⁺ [(C₂F₅)₃PF₃]^– under other experimental conditions.