Cold-Plasma-Driven Ammonia Synthesis over Porous Silica: The Role of the Morphology

Abstract

Nonthermal plasma (NTP) has opened unexplored routes for small-scale, decentralized ammonia production. However, understanding the ammonia formation pathways when employing NTP-driven processes is challenging due to the complex nature of the process. In this work, we report the effects of the morphology and textural properties on ammonia production. Herein, we explore mesoporous and macroporous regimes in silica. Performance of mesoporous silica with a gyroid morphology displays the highest ammonia production rate of 160.7 μmol/min·g-cat at a plasma power of 15 W. The findings from this work provide insights into tailoring porous structures and morphology for ammonia production powered by NTP. This work presents significant progress in the development of earth-abundant materials, achieved by tailoring their morphology and porous structure to improve their efficiency in plasma ammonia production.