Excluding false positives: A perspective toward credible ammonia quantification in nitrogen reduction reaction

As an essential raw material for fertilizer production and promising green fuels, ammonia is significant to the national economy and social development. Recently, nitrogen reduction reaction (NRR) towards ammonia under mild conditions has received intensive attention due to environmental friendliness and low energy consumption, compared to the rigorous and contaminative Haber-Bosch process. However, as current research deepens, some fatal challenges emerged in this field–not only high volatility and low repeatability but false–positive results, casting serious doubts about its prospects. In this review, we summarized and discussed some potential factors that possibly induce false-positive results for accurate ammonia quantification, including the aspects of catalyst materials, experimental process, and quantification methods. And corresponding methods to eliminate these effects are also summarized. Furthermore, a promising protocol and several control principles are proposed to eliminate potential errors during ammonia quantification. This review establishes a paradigm base in NRR research field toward more accurate ammonia quantification.