Nitrides, Hydrides and Carbides as Alternative Heterogeneous Catalysts for Ammonia Synthesis: A Brief Overview : Recent approaches to nitrogen activation

There has been recent interest in the potential of nitrides, hydrides and carbides as novel heterogeneous catalysts for production ammonia a sustainable manner on local scale. It proposed that some these materials can produce via Mars-van Krevelen based mechanistic pathways. Generally, metal-based catalysts, dissociative nitrogen activation is believed to be rate determining step synthesis. However, associative pathways, which are more akin enzymatic activation, being increasingly invoked literature. Such pathways may provide an opportunity development operate under milder reaction conditions. This brief overview provides summary developments relation applied