Spectroscopic Characterization of the Synergistic Mechanism of Ruthenium-Lithium Hydrides for Dinitrogen Cleavage.

Elucidating the role of alkali/alkaline earth metal hydrides in dinitrogen activation remains an important and challenging goal for spectroscopic studies of bulk systems, because their spectral signatures are often masked by the collective effects. Herein, mass-selected photoelectron velocity-map imaging spectroscopic and quantum chemical calculation techniques are utilized to explore the promotion mechanism of LiH in the Ru-based catalysts toward N 2 activation. The RuHN 2 - anion is determined to be a N 2 -tagged complex. In contrast, the RuHN 2 (LiH) n - ( n = 1 and 2) anions are characterized to have N≡N bond-cleaved ring structures. These observations indicate that the complexation of LiH to RuH - significantly facilitates N≡N bond cleavage. Theoretical analyses show that the synergy between Ru and LiH efficiently lowers the energy barrier of N≡N bond cleavage. These findings clarify the pivotal roles played by the LiH species in the transition metal catalysts for N 2 activation and have important practical implications for the prospective design of high-performance catalysts via metal tuning strategies.