Dr Maha Yusuf - University of Oxford

The challenge

Ammonia is essential for producing fertilisers that support global food security and could also serve as a low-carbon fuel and means of storing energy. However, conventional ammonia production requires high temperatures and pressures, relies heavily on fossil fuels and produces substantial carbon emissions. Emerging electrochemical methods can instead produce ammonia using renewable electricity under milder conditions, potentially enabling smaller, local production facilities. However, existing systems remain inefficient, difficult to scale and often depend on lithium, which presents resource and supply-chain concerns. Overcoming these barriers could enable cleaner, safer and more distributed production of ammonia. 

The research

Dr Maha Yusuf will develop a new electrochemical reactor that separates ammonia production into controlled stages to improve its efficiency and scalability. She will use advanced neutron and X-ray imaging techniques to observe how materials behave inside operating reactors, revealing processes that cannot be seen using conventional measurements. These insights will guide the design of improved electrodes and reaction conditions. The research will also investigate more abundant metals, including sodium, magnesium and barium, as alternatives to lithium. The aim is to establish the engineering foundations for practical ammonia production powered by renewable electricity.

The researcher

Dr Yusuf will establish the Yusuf Group in the Department of Materials at the University of Oxford, following a Princeton Presidential Postdoctoral Research Fellowship. She received her PhD and master’s degree in chemical engineering from Stanford University. She has secured approximately £3 million in competitive funding and fellowships across Oxford, Princeton and Stanford universities. Her research combines electrochemistry with advanced three-dimensional neutron and x-ray imaging to reveal how materials and interfaces evolve, degrade and fail during operation. She uses these insights to design safer, more efficient technologies for energy storage and sustainable chemical production, including cleaner ammonia synthesis for fertilisers, fuels and a net-zero future.