Rutherford Discovery Fellowship awarded to Dr Mat Anker

Dr Anker is a Lecturer in the School of Chemical and Physical Sciences at Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington. He is also an Associate Investigator with the MacDiarmid Institute.

During his Rutherford Discovery Fellowship, Dr Anker will develop a new methodology for making ammonia that doesn’t require harsh, fossil-fuel, based conditions. Dr Anker recently published a high-profile paper describing the synthesis of a highly reactive lanthanide(II) hydride complex. Using this as a starting point, he’ll enhance the complex to activate nitrogen – one of the most challenging molecules to activate in chemistry. Exposing activated nitrogen to hydrogen gas then generates ammonia and regenerates the lanthanide(II) complex. Such a system is highly suitable for industrial scale production of ammonia fertilisers without the requirement for high temperature and high pressure, and therefore the need for fossil fuels.