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

The chemical behaviors of alkali and alkaline earth metal hydrides including LiH, KH, MgH 2 , CaH 2 , and BaH 2 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 N 2 fixation without generating H 2 byproduct, showing high atomic economy in utilization of hydride ions for N 2 reduction.