Achievements, Challenges, and Perspectives on Nitrogen Electrochemistry for Carbon-Neutral Energy Technologies

Unrestrained anthropogenic activities have severely disrupted the global natural nitrogen cycle, causing numerous energy and environmental issues. Electrocatalytic nitrogen transformation is a feasible and promising strategy for achieving a sustainable nitrogen economy. Synergistically combining multiple nitrogen reactions can realize efficient renewable energy storage and conversion, restore the global nitrogen balance, and remediate environmental crises. Here, we provide a unique aspect to discuss the intriguing nitrogen electrochemistry by linking three essential nitrogen-containing compounds (i.e., N₂, NH₃, and NO₃⁻) and integrating four essential electrochemical reactions, i.e., the nitrogen reduction reaction (N₂RR), nitrogen oxidation reaction (N₂OR), nitrate reduction reaction (NO₃RR), and ammonia oxidation reaction (NH₃OR). This minireview also summarizes the acquired knowledge of rational catalyst design and underlying reaction mechanisms for these interlinked nitrogen reactions. We further underscore the associated clean energy technologies and a sustainable nitrogen-based economy.