Project AURORA

Advanced Utilization and Research On Renewable Ammonia

April 2023 - March 2024

The Project AURORA: Advanced Utilization and Research On Renewable Ammonia is a one-year project funded by the Research Partnership Grant ASEAN 2022 (RPG-ASEAN 2022). It aims to further the knowledge and advance the photoelectrochemical ammonia technology by performing an in-depth investigation on bismuth-based photoelectrocatalysis. This project is co-implemented by the Eidgenössische Materialprüfungs- und Forschungsanstalt (Empa-Dübendorf, Switzerland) and the Department of Chemical Engineering, University of the Philippines Diliman (Quezon City, Philippines).

The project would also support the mobility of researchers from the Philippines and Switzerland for the exchange of ideas and training on advanced instruments relevant to the study. The collaboration between academic institutions would highlight their expertise in both electrochemical technologies and in-situ characterization.

The main objective of this project is to further the knowledge and advance the photoelectrochemical ammonia technology by performing an in-depth investigation on bismuth-based photoelectrocatalysts. The following specific goals will be implemented to achieve the main objective of this project:

1. Electrode fabrication and preliminary screening of Bi-based catalyst.

a. Electrodeposition of BiOI catalysts on glass substrates.

b. Introduction of oxygen vacancies on the BiOI via in situ reduction method.

c. Evaluation of catalyst activity and selectivity from half-cell experiments in neutral media.

2. In-situ characterization of the NRR on BiOI catalyst to understand the reaction mechanism

a. In-situ electrochemical gas chromatograph for the detection of nitrogen intermediates and

ammonia production as a function of applied potential.

b. In-situ Raman spectrometer to probe the catalyst-electrolyte interface under reaction conditions.

c. Evaluation of solar-to-ammonia conversion efficiency and Faradaic efficiency

Email: Prof. Joey D. Ocon, Ph.D. (Asian Collaborator)