NH3 synthesis with Ca2NH supported Ru catalyst under mild conditions

Tugba Akkas Boynuegri; Gavin John Irvine; Samuel Jowitt; Oxana V. Magdysyuk; Huseyin Unsal; Annabel  Long; John Thomas Sirr Irvine

doi:10.1016/j.ijhydene.2025.152552

NH₃ synthesis with Ca₂NH supported Ru catalyst under mild conditions

Tugba Akkas Boynuegri^*, Gavin John Irvine, Samuel Jowitt, Oxana V. Magdysyuk, Huseyin Unsal, Annabel Long, John Thomas Sirr Irvine

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Calcium nitride-hydride supported Ru has demonstrated superior catalytic performance among Ru-based catalysts according to literature. This work explores the impact of Ca₂NH synthesis precursors on the catalytic performance of Ru–Ca₂NH in ammonia synthesis, with the goal of gaining deeper insight into their role. For this reason, β-Ca₂NH was synthesized using CaH₂ and N₂, which is different from reported in the literature. The structure of the synthesized material was carefully analysed and confirmed via XRD. Subsequently, Ru–Ca₂NH catalysts were prepared at varying percentages, ranging from 1 % to 10 %, to determine the optimum amount of Ru. The performance of these catalysts was investigated in ammonia synthesis reactions conducted under the continuous gas flow at 340 °C and 0.1 MPa. UV–Vis spectrometry was carried out to determine total ammonia production rate, and was calculated as 1.6 mmol/g cat. h. This production rate was higher than the performance of most of the reported Ru-based catalysts.

Original language	English
Article number	152552
Number of pages	8
Journal	International Journal of Hydrogen Energy
Volume	197
Early online date	22 Nov 2025
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2025.152552
Publication status	E-pub ahead of print - 22 Nov 2025

Keywords

Hydrogen storage
Ammonia
Ru catalyst
Calcium nitrate hydrate

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Akkas-Boynuegri_2025_IJHE_NH3-synthesis-Ca2NH-supported-Ru-catalyst_CC
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Cite this

@article{83ae5bfa233b417fa6d66a432f667355,

title = "NH3 synthesis with Ca2NH supported Ru catalyst under mild conditions",

abstract = "Calcium nitride-hydride supported Ru has demonstrated superior catalytic performance among Ru-based catalysts according to literature. This work explores the impact of Ca2NH synthesis precursors on the catalytic performance of Ru–Ca2NH in ammonia synthesis, with the goal of gaining deeper insight into their role. For this reason, β-Ca2NH was synthesized using CaH2 and N2, which is different from reported in the literature. The structure of the synthesized material was carefully analysed and confirmed via XRD. Subsequently, Ru–Ca2NH catalysts were prepared at varying percentages, ranging from 1 % to 10 %, to determine the optimum amount of Ru. The performance of these catalysts was investigated in ammonia synthesis reactions conducted under the continuous gas flow at 340 °C and 0.1 MPa. UV–Vis spectrometry was carried out to determine total ammonia production rate, and was calculated as 1.6 mmol/g cat. h. This production rate was higher than the performance of most of the reported Ru-based catalysts.",

keywords = "Hydrogen storage, Ammonia, Ru catalyst, Calcium nitrate hydrate",

author = "{Akkas Boynuegri}, Tugba and Irvine, {Gavin John} and Samuel Jowitt and Magdysyuk, {Oxana V.} and Huseyin Unsal and Annabel Long and Irvine, {John Thomas Sirr}",

note = "Funding: This work was performed at the University St Andrews under the grant of TUBITAK 2219-International Postdoctoral Research Fellowship Program, Turkiye.",

year = "2025",

month = nov,

day = "22",

doi = "10.1016/j.ijhydene.2025.152552",

language = "English",

volume = "197",

journal = "International Journal of Hydrogen Energy",

issn = "0360-3199",

publisher = "Elsevier",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - NH3 synthesis with Ca2NH supported Ru catalyst under mild conditions

AU - Akkas Boynuegri, Tugba

AU - Irvine, Gavin John

AU - Jowitt, Samuel

AU - Magdysyuk, Oxana V.

AU - Unsal, Huseyin

AU - Long, Annabel

AU - Irvine, John Thomas Sirr

N1 - Funding: This work was performed at the University St Andrews under the grant of TUBITAK 2219-International Postdoctoral Research Fellowship Program, Turkiye.

PY - 2025/11/22

Y1 - 2025/11/22

N2 - Calcium nitride-hydride supported Ru has demonstrated superior catalytic performance among Ru-based catalysts according to literature. This work explores the impact of Ca2NH synthesis precursors on the catalytic performance of Ru–Ca2NH in ammonia synthesis, with the goal of gaining deeper insight into their role. For this reason, β-Ca2NH was synthesized using CaH2 and N2, which is different from reported in the literature. The structure of the synthesized material was carefully analysed and confirmed via XRD. Subsequently, Ru–Ca2NH catalysts were prepared at varying percentages, ranging from 1 % to 10 %, to determine the optimum amount of Ru. The performance of these catalysts was investigated in ammonia synthesis reactions conducted under the continuous gas flow at 340 °C and 0.1 MPa. UV–Vis spectrometry was carried out to determine total ammonia production rate, and was calculated as 1.6 mmol/g cat. h. This production rate was higher than the performance of most of the reported Ru-based catalysts.

AB - Calcium nitride-hydride supported Ru has demonstrated superior catalytic performance among Ru-based catalysts according to literature. This work explores the impact of Ca2NH synthesis precursors on the catalytic performance of Ru–Ca2NH in ammonia synthesis, with the goal of gaining deeper insight into their role. For this reason, β-Ca2NH was synthesized using CaH2 and N2, which is different from reported in the literature. The structure of the synthesized material was carefully analysed and confirmed via XRD. Subsequently, Ru–Ca2NH catalysts were prepared at varying percentages, ranging from 1 % to 10 %, to determine the optimum amount of Ru. The performance of these catalysts was investigated in ammonia synthesis reactions conducted under the continuous gas flow at 340 °C and 0.1 MPa. UV–Vis spectrometry was carried out to determine total ammonia production rate, and was calculated as 1.6 mmol/g cat. h. This production rate was higher than the performance of most of the reported Ru-based catalysts.

KW - Hydrogen storage

KW - Ammonia

KW - Ru catalyst

KW - Calcium nitrate hydrate

U2 - 10.1016/j.ijhydene.2025.152552

DO - 10.1016/j.ijhydene.2025.152552

M3 - Article

SN - 0360-3199

VL - 197

JO - International Journal of Hydrogen Energy

JF - International Journal of Hydrogen Energy

M1 - 152552

ER -