A comparative analysis of the mechanisms of ammonia synthesis on various catalysts using density functional theory

Zeinalipour-Yazdi, Constantinos D., Hargreaves, Justin S. J., Laassiri, Said and Catlow, C. Richard A. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1341-1541 2021. A comparative analysis of the mechanisms of ammonia synthesis on various catalysts using density functional theory. Royal Society Open Science 8 (11) , 210952. 10.1098/rsos.210952

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Abstract

In this review, we present the recent progress in ammonia synthesis research using density functional theory (DFT) calculations on various industrial catalysts, metal nitrides and nano-cluster-supported catalysts. The mechanism of ammonia synthesis on the industrial Fe catalyst is generally accepted to be a dissociative mechanism. We have recently found, using DFT techniques, that on Co3Mo3N (111) surfaces, an associative mechanism in the synthesis of ammonia can offer a new low-energy pathway that was previously unknown. In particular, we have shown that metal nitrides that are also known to have high activity for ammonia synthesis can readily form nitrogen vacancies which can activate dinitrogen, thereby promoting the associative mechanism. These fundamental studies suggest that a promising route to the discovery of low-temperature ammonia synthesis catalysts will be to identify systems that proceed via the associative mechanism, which is closer to the nitrogen-fixation mechanism occurring in nitrogenases.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Chemistry Cardiff Catalysis Institute (CCI)
Additional Information:	Published by the Royal Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/, which permits unrestricted use, provided the original author and source are credited.
Publisher:	The Royal Society
ISSN:	2054-5703
Funders:	EPSRC
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	18 November 2021
Date of Acceptance:	20 September 2021
Last Modified:	03 May 2023 18:41
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/145613

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