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Electrochemical Ammonia Synthesis Mediated by Titanocene Dichloride in Aqueous Electrolytes under Ambient Conditions
Under ambient conditions,
the catalytic and electrocatalytic syntheses
of ammonia from nitrogen and various proton sources including wet
tetrahydrofuran (THF) and the protic solvents methanol and water were
performed using titanocene dichloride ((η<sup>5</sup>-C<sub>5</sub>H<sub>5</sub>)<sub>2</sub>TiCl<sub>2</sub>, commonly abbreviated
to CP<sub>2</sub>TiCl<sub>2</sub>) in a two-electrode cell containing
1.0 M LiCl as the electrolyte. The highest rate of ammonia synthesis,
9.5 × 10<sup>–10</sup> mol·cm<sup>–2</sup>·sec<sup>–1</sup>·M CP<sub>2</sub>TiCl<sub>2</sub><sup>–1</sup>, was achieved at −1 V in water, whereas
the highest faradaic efficiency (0.95%) was achieved at −2
V in THF. On account of its lower Gibbs free energy, density functional
theory calculations suggest that the nitrogen-reduction reaction catalyzed
by CP<sub>2</sub>TiCl<sub>2</sub> in the presence of THF, methanol,
or water preferably occurs via the Cp<sub>2</sub>TiClN<sub>2</sub> intermediate rather than Cp<sub>2</sub>TiN<sub>2</sub>N<sub>2</sub>. Future strategies to improve both the rate of ammonia synthesis
and its faradaic efficiency must consider ways of maximizing nitrogen
selectivity to the catalytic active sites by controlling the transfer
rates of protons and/or nitrogen