Abhishek Banerjee and Mercouri G. Kanatzidis, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA, and colleagues have shown that chalcogels containing inorganic FeMoS clusters are capable of photochemically reducing N₂ to NH₃ when irradiated by white light at room temperature, ambient pressure, and in aqueous media. Chalcogel is a light-absorbing, porous, amorphous solid composed of Mo₂Fe₆S₈ clusters linked by Sn₂S₆ ligands.

According to the researchers, the ammonia production is too slowly for industrial use but the material remained stable with no loss of activity during a 72-hour test. The results show that light-driven nitrogen conversion to ammonia by MoFe sulfides is possible.

• Photochemical Nitrogen Conversion to Ammonia in Ambient Conditions with FeMoS-Chalcogels,
  Abhishek Banerjee, Benjamin D. Yuhas, Eric A Margulies, Yongbo Zhang, Yurina Shim, Michael R. Wasielewski, Mercouri G. Kanatzidis,
  J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2015.
  DOI: 10.1021/ja512491v