Nonthermal plasma integrated with catalysts for nitrogen fixation from nitrogen and water

Abstract

Directly synthesizing NH₃ and NO_x from N₂ and H₂O by nonthermal plasma (NTP) at atmospheric pressure and low temperature is considered an attractive alternative for the Haber–Bosch process. Nonthermal plasma integrated with a catalyst was employed to investigate the effect of metal-impregnated SBA-15 on nitrogen fixation efficiency. The results demonstrated that the total nitrogenous product synthesis rate reached 140.78 μmol h⁻¹ with an energy yield of 597.32 mg_N kW⁻¹ h⁻¹ when the Ni-SBA-15 catalyst was employed. In the reaction, HNO₂ reacts with NH₃ to form NH₄NO₂, rapidly decomposing into N₂ and H₂O, responsible for production distribution. The addition of Ni-SBA-15 promotes plasma-activated species, resulting in nitrogen fixation efficiency. This work lays the foundation for studying nitrogen fixation driven by the NTP-catalyst integrated system.