Nitrogen-permeable membranes and uses thereof

1. A nitrogen-permeable structure, comprising:

a porous support; and

a nitrogen-permeable membrane adjacent to the porous support and including a first metal and a second metal, wherein the first metal is selected from vanadium, niobium, and tantalum, and the second metal is different from the first metal,

wherein an amount of the second metal is no greater than 5 percent by weight, and the second metal is ruthenium.

2. The nitrogen-permeable structure of claim 1 , wherein the first metal is vanadium.

3. The nitrogen-permeable structure of claim 2 , wherein the first metal is at least one of alloyed and doped with the second metal.

4. The nitrogen-permeable structure of claim 2 , wherein the nitrogen-permeable membrane is substantially non-porous.

5. The nitrogen-permeable structure of claim 2 , wherein the nitrogen-permeable membrane is selectively permeable towards nitrogen.

6. The nitrogen-permeable structure of claim 2 , wherein the nitrogen-permeable membrane is configured to facilitate: (a) adsorption of molecular nitrogen onto the nitrogen-permeable membrane; (b) dissociation of the molecular nitrogen into atomic nitrogen; and (c) transport of the atomic nitrogen through the nitrogen-permeable membrane.

7. The nitrogen-permeable structure of claim 2 , wherein a thickness of the nitrogen-permeable membrane is no greater than 40 μm.

8. The nitrogen-permeable structure of claim 2 , wherein a permeability of the nitrogen-permeable membrane towards atomic nitrogen is at least 1×10 −8 mol/(m s Pa 0.5 ) at 1000 K.

9. The nitrogen-permeable structure of claim 8 , wherein the permeability of the nitrogen-permeable membrane towards atomic nitrogen is in the range of 1×10 −8 mol/(m s Pa 0.5 ) and 1×10 −7 mol/(m s Pa 0.5 ) at 1000 K.

10. A method of operating a nitrogen-permeable membrane, comprising:

providing a nitrogen-permeable membrane having a feed side and a permeate side, wherein the nitrogen-permeable membrane includes a first metal and a second metal, the first metal is selected from vanadium, niobium, and tantalum, and the first metal is at least one of alloyed and doped with the second metal that is different from the first metal; and

exposing the feed side of the nitrogen-permeable membrane to a feed stream including nitrogen, such that atomic nitrogen is transported across the nitrogen-permeable membrane from the feed side to the permeate side.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the second metal is selected from cobalt, copper, gold, iron, nickel, palladium, platinum, ruthenium, and silver.

12. The method of claim 10 , wherein the nitrogen-permeable membrane is selectively permeable towards the nitrogen in the feed stream, such that at least one gaseous species is substantially retained in the feed stream to produce an output stream.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the feed stream corresponds to a stream of flue gas, and the at least one gaseous species includes carbon dioxide.

14. The method of claim 12 , wherein the feed stream corresponds to a stream of air, and the at least one gaseous species includes oxygen.

15. The method of claim 10 , further comprising:

exposing the permeate side of the nitrogen-permeable membrane to a stream of hydrogen; and

reacting the hydrogen and the atomic nitrogen that is transported across the nitrogen-permeable membrane to produce ammonia.