Direct Ammonia Synthesis from Nitrogen and Water at Mild Conditions

Direct ammonia (NH 3 ) synthesis from nitrogen (N 2 ) and water (H 2 O) is a promising route for achieving energy-efficient NH 3 production by circumventing the energy-intensive H 2 production process, yet it is limited by unfavorable reaction thermodynamics. Herein, we report a direct ammonia synthesis process from N 2 and H 2 O with CO as the oxygen acceptor to remove oxygen from H 2 O over a Au/α-MoC 1– x catalyst, thereby bypassing the thermodynamic limitation of N 2 activation with H 2 O under mild conditions. This process achieves NH 3 synthesis at temperatures as low as 100 °C, yielding 1396 μmol NH 3 g cat –1 h –1 of NH 3 at 320 °C. We disclose that the Au/α-MoC 1– x boundary offers Au δ+ species for CO adsorption to vacate oxygen-covered Mo sites for N 2 adsorption and H 2 O dissociation to OH* species, enabling stepwise N 2 hydrogenation to NH 3 . This process enables direct ammonia synthesis from nitrogen and water through the synergistic cooperation of the oxygen acceptor and bifunctional Au/α-MoC 1– x .