Microwave-assisted ammonia synthesis using renewable H2 as a resource is a promising alternative to the energy-intensive Haber-Bosch process. In this work, we reinvented the synthesis approach and catalytic activity of Co3Mo3N catalyst, which shows increasing productivity (mol. of NH3/gcat/h) with temperature, unlike the conventional Ru-Cs/CeO2 catalyst. This led us to adopt a combination of theoretical and experimental approaches to further understand the mechanistic details and differences of surface reactivity between Co3Mo3N and Ru-Cs/CeO2 catalysts. Following similar elementary steps, the electronrich N sites in Co3Mo3N and Ru sites of Ru-Cs/CeO2 lowered the N≡N dissociation barriers to convert it to NH3. However, a higher rate of reverse reaction (i.e., the dissociation of NH3 to N2 and H2) is presumed to be responsible for the decrease of NH3 productivity on Ru-Cs/CeO2 with increasing temperature. Exploring further, this work could lead to identifying potential catalysts for the commercialization of the microwaveassisted ammonia synthesis process.

Exploring the catalytic activity of Co3Mo3N catalysts under microwave conditions

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