The Exploratory Energy Research fund exemplifies the University’s commitment to support innovative curiosity-driven energy research through new ideas and concepts aimed at finding sustainable energy solutions. The fund was established as part of Princeton’s larger Energy Research Fund. The following project was funded:

Innovative hybrid plasma-electrochemical system for efficient and selective green ammonia synthesis

Yiguang Ju, Robert Porter Patterson Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

This project will pioneer an environmentally friendly method for making ammonia, a chemical that can be useful in future hydrogen-based energy storage, transport and usage. The method will involve development of several technologies, including tungsten-based membranes and plasma-assisted membrane surface nitrification, which makes it possible to produce ammonia at much lower temperatures than are required for current production methods. The research, which involves a collaboration with Huixin He, visiting fellow in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and a professor of chemistry at Rutgers University-Newark, aims to enable the efficient and sustainable synthesis of ammonia from nitrogen and water using renewable electricity.