Breaking boundaries in ammonia production at ambient conditions: Exploring pristine carbon allotropes as catalyst

The synthesis of ammonia from molecular nitrogen and hydrogen under ambient conditions remains one of the greatest challenges in chemical method development. Notable successes have been achieved using transition metal complexes. However, the design of metal-free catalysts for nitrogen activation and ammonia synthesis under ambient conditions remains an active area of research. Various types of carbenes — including N-heterocyclic carbenes (NHCs), cyclic (alkyl)(amino)carbenes (CAACs), bicyclic (alkyl)(amino)carbenes (BICAACs), P-heterocyclic carbenes (PHCs), and others — have emerged as frontrunners for this purpose. Nevertheless, the nitrogen activation efficiency of pristine carbon allotropes (PCAs) remains largely unexplored. The present study investigates the nitrogen activation efficiency and ammonia formation capacity of several newly synthesized PCAs. Our results show that the PCAs examined here are highly effective for nitrogen activation. However, only one PCA demonstrates efficacy for ammonia formation at room temperature.