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Interaction Between Ru Nanoparticles and Pr6O11 Triggers Catalytic Ammonia Synthesis

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Abstract

The essential role of metal–support interaction in ammonia synthesis was investigated by using a Pr6O11 supported Ru nanoparticles (NPs) catalyst system. Loading of Ru NPs onto the Pr6O11 support with relatively low surface area yields similar metal dispersion with respect to conventional SiO2 support. The Ru NPs on the Pr6O11 was found to exhibit excellent catalytic performance in ammonia synthesis, superior to free-standing Ru NPs and Ru NPs on conventional SiO2 support. Detailed structure analysis results reveal that the superior activity of Ru/Pr6O11 can be attributed to the enhanced interaction between the Ru NPs and Pr6O11, which can modulate the electronic structure of Ru NPs and trigger catalytic ammonia synthesis over Ru NPs on Pr6O11. Furthermore, nitrogen isotope exchange experiment reveals that superior nitrogen dissociation ability is essential for the excellent activity and intrinsic activity of Ru/Pr6O11 in ammonia synthesis. These findings demonstrate that Pr6O11 can be used as a new kind of support for preparation of efficient Ru-based catalysts for ammonia synthesis, and also open up opportunities for design of Pr6O11 supported metal catalysts for other catalytic reactions.

Graphitical Abstract

Interaction between the Ru NPs and Pr6O11 can modulate the electronic structure of Ru NPs and trigger catalytic ammonia synthesis over Ru NPs on Pr6O11.

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Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (22179128), the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2021YFB4000401), the Dalian High-level Talents Program (2019RD09) and the Liaoning Revitalization Talents Program (XLYC2002076).

Funding

The study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (22179128), Dalian High-level Talents Program (2019RD09), National Key Research and Development Program of China (2021YFB4000401), and Liaoning Revitalization Talents Program (XLYC2002076).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, 230026, China

    Ruili Li

  2. Dalian National Laboratory for Clean Energy, State Key Laboratory of Catalysis, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 457 Zhongshan Road, Dalian, 116023, China

    Ruili Li, Lin Liu, Xiaohua Ju, Ji Feng, Jiemin Wang, Jiangping Guo, Teng He & Ping Chen

  3. Center of Materials Science and Optoelectronics Engineering, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

    Lin Liu, Ji Feng, Jiangping Guo, Teng He & Ping Chen

  4. School of Chemistry, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, 116024, China

    Jiemin Wang

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  1. Ruili Li
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Correspondence to Lin Liu.

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Li, R., Liu, L., Ju, X. et al. Interaction Between Ru Nanoparticles and Pr6O11 Triggers Catalytic Ammonia Synthesis. Catal Lett (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10562-024-04629-7

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