Dinitrogen fixation is one of the key reactions in chemistry, which is closely associated with food, environment, and energy. It has been recently recognized that the hydride materials containing negatively charged hy...Dinitrogen fixation is one of the key reactions in chemistry, which is closely associated with food, environment, and energy. It has been recently recognized that the hydride materials containing negatively charged hydrogen(H~-) show promises for Nfixation and hydrogenation to ammonia. Herein, we report that rare earth metal hydrides such as lanthanum hydride can also fix Neither by heating to 200 °C or ball milling under ambient Npressure and temperature. The Nfixation by lanthanum hydride may proceed via an intermediate lanthanum hydride-nitride(La-H-N) structure to form the final lanthanum nitride product. The hydride ion functions as an electron donor, which provides electrons for Nactivation possibly mediated by the lanthanum atoms. It is observed that N–H bond is not formed during the Nfixation process, which is distinctly different from the alkali or alkaline earth metal hydrides. The hydrolysis of La-H-N to ammonia is feasible using water as the hydrogen source. These results provide new insights into the nitrogen fixation by hydride materials and more efforts are needed for the development of rare earth metal-based catalysts and/or nitrogen carriers for ammonia synthesis processes.展开更多
基金the financial support from the National Key R&D Program of China(2021YFB4000401)the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant Nos.21922205,21872137,22109158,and 51801197)+2 种基金the Youth Innovation Promotion Association CAS(Grant Nos.2018213,2019189,2022180)the Liaoning Revitalization Talents Program(Grant Nos.XLYC2007173,XLYC2002076)the K.C.Wong Education Foundation(Grant No.GJTD-2018-06)。
文摘Dinitrogen fixation is one of the key reactions in chemistry, which is closely associated with food, environment, and energy. It has been recently recognized that the hydride materials containing negatively charged hydrogen(H~-) show promises for Nfixation and hydrogenation to ammonia. Herein, we report that rare earth metal hydrides such as lanthanum hydride can also fix Neither by heating to 200 °C or ball milling under ambient Npressure and temperature. The Nfixation by lanthanum hydride may proceed via an intermediate lanthanum hydride-nitride(La-H-N) structure to form the final lanthanum nitride product. The hydride ion functions as an electron donor, which provides electrons for Nactivation possibly mediated by the lanthanum atoms. It is observed that N–H bond is not formed during the Nfixation process, which is distinctly different from the alkali or alkaline earth metal hydrides. The hydrolysis of La-H-N to ammonia is feasible using water as the hydrogen source. These results provide new insights into the nitrogen fixation by hydride materials and more efforts are needed for the development of rare earth metal-based catalysts and/or nitrogen carriers for ammonia synthesis processes.