Plasma-induced nitrogen vacancy-mediated ammonia synthesis over a VN catalyst.

Plasma catalysis has recently been recognized as a promising route for artificial N 2 reduction under mild conditions. Here we report a highly active VN catalyst for plasma-catalytic NH 3 synthesis via the typical Mars-van Krevelen (MvK) mechanism. Our results indicate that NH 3 synthesis occurs through the continuous regeneration and elimination of nitrogen vacancies on the VN surface. With this strategy, the VN catalyst achieves a superhigh NH 3 yield of 143.2 mg h -1 g cat . -1 and a competitive energy efficiency of 1.43 g NH 3 kW h -1 .