Nitrogen fixation by alkali and alkaline earth metal hydrides assisted by plasma

Abstract

The chemical behaviors of alkali and alkaline earth metal hydrides including LiH, KH, MgH₂, CaH₂, and BaH₂ under nitrogen plasma differ significantly from one another, exhibiting an ammonia production trend that contrasts with that observed under thermal conditions. A prominent feature of KH is its ability to facilitate plasma-assisted N₂ fixation without generating H₂ byproduct, showing high atomic economy in utilization of hydride ions for N₂ reduction.