Boosting ammonia synthesis over molybdenum nitride through nickel‐mediated nitrogen activation and hydrogen transfer

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AbstractSynergistic optimization of nitrogen dissociation and hydrogen transfer might be an efficient strategy to develop a highly efficient ammonia synthesis catalyst. Herein, the Ni‐modified molybdenum nitride is used as the catalyst of ammonia synthesis. The presence of the highly dispersed Ni metal results in enhancement of nitrogen vacancy, causing the acceleration of the exchange and reaction of the lattice N species with the nitrogen species from the gaseous phase. In addition, the presence of Ni species facilitates the hydrogen transfer and spillover, as well as easy hydrogen release. As a result, the optimized molybdenum nitride catalyst with 0.1 wt% Ni shows a 2.5‐times higher catalytic activity than that of the catalyst without Ni species at 400°C owing to the coupling of nitrogen activation and hydrogen transfer effects. This general approach could inspire the rational design of other metal catalysts for ammonia synthesis.