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<p>The Haber–Bosch process for ammonia synthesis contributes up to ~3% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Plasmonic catalysts strongly concentrate light and can alter the reaction intermediates via out-of-equilibrium processes, providing the potential for an alternative, less-energy-intensive pathway to synthesize ammonia. Here we show that gold-ruthenium (AuRu) bimetallic nanoparticles can synthesize ammonia at room temperature and pressure using visible light. We create AuRu alloys with varying compositions and achieve ammonia production rates of ~60 μmol per gram of catalyst bed per hour. In situ infrared spectroscopy reveals that light accelerates the hydrogenation of nitrogen intermediates compared to conventional thermal catalysis. Through computational modelling, we demonstrate that photo-excited electrons enable associative hydrogenation pathways for nitrogen activation rather than direct nitrogen–nitrogen bond breaking. This light-assisted mechanism requires both hydrogen and light working together to overcome the nitrogen activation barrier, mimicking how biological enzymes produce ammonia naturally and providing fundamental insights for developing sustainable, energy-efficient chemical synthesis.</p>

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Atmospheric-pressure ammonia synthesis on AuRu catalysts enabled by plasmon-controlled hydrogenation and nitrogen-species desorption

  • 期刊论文

  • 发表日期：

    2025年12月5日

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  • Lin Yuan,
  • Briley B. Bourgeois,
  • Elijah Begin,
  • Yirui Zhang,
  • Alan X. Dai,
  • Zhihua Cheng,
  • Amy S. McKeown-Green,
  • Zhichen Xue,
  • Yi Cui,
  • Kun Xu,
  • Yu Wang,
  • Matthew R. Jones,
  • Yi Cui,
  • Arun Majumdar,
  • Junwei Lucas Bao,
  • Jennifer A. Dionne

摘要

The Haber–Bosch process for ammonia synthesis contributes up to ~3% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Plasmonic catalysts strongly concentrate light and can alter the reaction intermediates via out-of-equilibrium processes, providing the potential for an alternative, less-energy-intensive pathway to synthesize ammonia. Here we show that gold-ruthenium (AuRu) bimetallic nanoparticles can synthesize ammonia at room temperature and pressure using visible light. We create AuRu alloys with varying compositions and achieve ammonia production rates of ~60 μmol per gram of catalyst bed per hour. In situ infrared spectroscopy reveals that light accelerates the hydrogenation of nitrogen intermediates compared to conventional thermal catalysis. Through computational modelling, we demonstrate that photo-excited electrons enable associative hydrogenation pathways for nitrogen activation rather than direct nitrogen–nitrogen bond breaking. This light-assisted mechanism requires both hydrogen and light working together to overcome the nitrogen activation barrier, mimicking how biological enzymes produce ammonia naturally and providing fundamental insights for developing sustainable, energy-efficient chemical synthesis.