A greener way to make the world's fertiliser just cleared a huge hurdle

Researchers at Monash University and RMIT in Melbourne have broken through an efficiency ceiling that has dogged greener ammonia production. Their lithium-alloying electrodes channel about 96% of the electric current into making ammonia — nearly perfect — in a proof of concept published in the peer-reviewed Cell Press Blue, led by Dr Rebecca Hodgetts. Ammonia is the backbone of the world's fertiliser; making it from renewable electricity instead of fossil fuels would green the whole food chain.