Akira Katayama
Nagoya Institute of Technology, Japan
Title: Electrochemical conversion of dinitrogen to ammonia induced by a metal complex–supported ionic liquid
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 CO2, 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.