Ammonia Decomposition in the Presence of Water: A Resilient Barium Cobalt Catalyst
Thermocatalytic ammonia decomposition is a critical step in utilizing ammonia as a zero-emission fuel and energy carrier. Despite its industrial relevance, the impact of water─commonly added to ammonia to prevent tank and pipeline degradation by stress corrosion cracking─on catalyst performance remains largely unexplored. Here, we investigate the influence of trace water on the activity of Co- and Fe-based ammonia decomposition catalysts through a combined experimental and theoretical approach. Our findings reveal that while some promoted catalysts experience a detrimental activity loss, a barium-promoted cobalt catalyst demonstrates remarkable resilience, retaining most of its activity even at water concentrations up to 1%.
Authors
- Cathrine Frandsen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5006-924X)
- Oliver Christensen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9705-4053)
- Christian Danvad Damsgaard (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3117-8616)
- Emanuel Billeter (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3230-053X)
- Alexander Gunnarson (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9424-3374)
- Miriam Varón (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9572-3663)
- Jens K. Nørskov (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4427-7728)
- Ib Chorkendorff (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2738-0325)
- Alexander Frisina
Institutions
- The University of Sydney (AU)
- Australian National Fabrication Facility (AU)
- Institute of Catalysis and Petrochemistry (RU)
- Technical University of Denmark (DK)
Publication Details
- Journal
- ACS Energy Letters
- Published
- 2025-06-24
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1021/acsenergylett.5c01389
- Citations
- 5
- Primary Topic
- Ammonia Synthesis and Nitrogen Reduction
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 1.94
Funders
- Villum Fonden
- Innovationsfonden
- Danmarks Frie Forskningsfond
- Novo Nordisk Fonden
- Australian Research Council