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The reliance of a future carbon-free horizon is strongly aligned with the long-term energy storage avenues which are completely derived from renewable energy resources. Ammonia with its high energy content and density can perform as a decent candidate for buffering the short-term storage options. However, the current NH3 production majorly feeding the current huge desire for ammonia is dominated by the conventional nonrenewable Haber-Bosch (H-B) process route, thus continuously damaging the target of carbon neutrality goals. High-purity hydrogen (H2) gas is an essential precursor for the H-B process; however, it is a significant energy consumer (about 2% of the global energy supply) and contributes over 420 million tons of CO2/annum. Therefore, the research on the renewable synthesis of nitrogen-based energy carriers (such as ammonia) from the direct electrochemical, photocatalytic, or plasma catalytic processes; its conversion; and utilization to the potential derivatives has been a hot topic in the past few decades. A prospective analysis of the highly appealing processes has been summarized in this study, which could facilitate the adaption of renewable alternatives as an effective approach for zero carbon emission, paving the excellent pathways along the road to the development of nitrogen-based energy technologies, especially the targeted development of ammonia. Further, this Review covers the current and future impacts of the H-B process, the development of aspiring ammonia synthesis routes (via electro, photo, bio, chemical loop, or plasma catalysis), and its conversion and utilization to the renewable derivatives in terms of fabrication of model catalysts, advanced characterization technology, and efficient device design.

The signal crosstalk and electromagnetic interference (EMI) problems direly need to be resolved in the rapid development of modern microwave communication technology for a better working frequency and transmission power of electronic systems. Where the new absorbing materials such as molybdenum disulfide (MoS2)/titania (TiO2)/Ti2CTx and MoS2/Ti2CTx composites could meet the requirement of “thin, strong, light weight, and wide band” for excellent absorbing performance. In this work, a lighter Ti2CTx material was selected as the matrix, and MoS2 was in-situ grown on Ti2CTx matrix by traditional hydrothermal method and microwave solvothermal method. The fabricated composite exhibited synergic effect of two-dimensional heterostructural interface and double dielectric elements, where a small amount of TiO2 and a certain proportion of MoS2 jointly improve the impedance matching of the composite material. In here, the extreme reflection loss (RLmin) can reach − 54.70 dB (with a frequency of 7.59 GHz, 3.39 mm thickness), and the maximum effective absorption bandwidth (EABmax) can reach 4 GHz. Polyethylene glycol 200 was used as the solvent instead of water to make Ti2CTx less oxidized during the composite process, where the microwave heating would attain fast speed, short time, high efficiency, and uniform product. Since, the MoS2/Ti2CTx composite without oxidizing possessed a wider effective absorption bandwidth (EAB) at a thinner thickness, thus resulting in the excellent microwave absorption performance and confirming the validity and rationality of new microwave absorption materials.

The reliance of a future carbon-free horizon is strongly aligned with the long-term energy storage avenues which are completely derived from renewable energy resources. Ammonia with its high energy content and density can perform as a decent candidate for buffering the short-term storage options. However, the current NH3 production majorly feeding the current huge desire for ammonia is dominated by the conventional nonrenewable Haber-Bosch (H-B) process route, thus continuously damaging the target of carbon neutrality goals. High-purity hydrogen (H-2) gas is an essential precursor for the H-B process; however, it is a significant energy consumer (about 2% of the global energy supply) and contributes over 420 million tons of CO2/annum. Therefore, the research on the renewable synthesis of nitrogen-based energy carriers (such as ammonia) from the direct electrochemical, photocatalytic, or plasma catalytic processes; its conversion; and utilization to the potential derivatives has been a hot topic in the past few decades. A prospective analysis of the highly appealing processes has been summarized in this study, which could facilitate the adaption of renewable alternatives as an effective approach for zero carbon emission, paving the excellent pathways along the road to the development of nitrogen-based energy technologies, especially the targeted development of ammonia. Further, this Review covers the current and future impacts of the H-B process, the development of aspiring ammonia synthesis routes (via electro, photo, bio, chemical loop, or plasma catalysis), and its conversion and utilization to the renewable derivatives in terms of fabrication of model catalysts, advanced characterization technology, and efficient device design.