Ceria support enhances activity of CoNi catalysts for ammonia synthesis under magnetic heating.

Ammonia synthesis is an important target for electrified chemical production, but conventional processes rely on externally heated reactors and highly active catalysts that often contain noble metals. Here, we investigate noble-metal-free CoNi catalysts for ammonia synthesis under magnetic induction heating using a hierarchically structured CoNi/alumina platform. Additional CoNi deposition on alumina increased the number of CO-accessible metallic sites but produced only limited activity enhancement, while ceria incorporation without additional CoNi did not substantially increase the catalyst-mass-normalized NH3 formation rate. In contrast, CoNi/CN-A-C exhibited the highest turnover frequency, catalyst-mass-normalized NH3 formation rate, and outlet NH3 concentration, surpassing the Ru/CN-A benchmark at 5.5 MPa. The results associate the pronounced enhancement with the combination of deposited CoNi and a ceria-containing environment.