H2 production from ammonia decomposition with Mo2N catalyst driven by dielectric barrier discharge plasma

Dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma-assisted ammonia decomposition reaction was investigated to produce carbon-free hydrogen for fuel cell applications . Mo 2 N catalyst was synthesized and applied for catalytic ammonia decomposition in different reaction modes. The synergistic effect of using Mo 2 N catalyst in combination with DBD plasma resulted in near complete conversion of NH 3 decomposition at specific energy input (SEI) of 39.6 kJ L −1 , giving an energy efficiency of 6.1 mol·kWh −1 for H 2 production. The particle size of Mo 2 N catalyst was discovered to affect the plasma-catalytic performance for NH 3 decomposition, with Mo 2 N-powder catalyst showing higher reactivity compared with Mo 2 N-particle catalyst. The plasma diagnostic results showed that, compared to the filamentary discharge with Mo 2 N-particle catalyst, the Mo 2 N-powder catalyst packing lead to a predominant surface discharge; such localized surface discharges might contribute to a facile transportation of reactive species from the plasma phase to the catalyst surface , thus leading to higher plasma-catalytic performance.