Self-powered ammonia synthesis under ambient conditions via N ₂ discharge driven by Tesla turbine triboelectric nanogenerators

Abstract

Ammonia synthesis using low-power consumption and eco-friendly methods has attracted increasing attention. Here, based on the Tesla turbine triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG), we designed a simple and effective self-powered ammonia synthesis system by N ₂ discharge. Under the driving of the simulated waste gas, the Tesla turbine TENG showed high rotation speed and high output. In addition, the performance of two Tesla turbine TENGs with different gas path connections was systematically investigated and discussed. A controllable series-parallel connection with the control of gas supply time was also proposed. Taking advantage of the intrinsic high voltage, corona discharge in a N ₂ atmosphere was simply realized by a Tesla turbine TENG. With the flow of N ₂, the generated high-energy plasma can immediately react with water molecules to directly produce ammonia. The self-powered system achieved a yield of 2.14 μg h ⁻¹ (0.126 μmol h ⁻¹) under ambient conditions, showing great potential for large-scale synthesis.