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. Mo2N catalyst was synthesized and applied for catalytic ammonia decomposition in different reaction modes. The synergistic effect of using Mo2N catalyst in combination with DBD plasma resulted in near complete conversion of NH3 decomposition at specific energy input (SEI) of 39.6 kJ L−1, giving an energy efficiency of 6.1 mol·kWh−1 for H2 production. The particle size of Mo2N catalyst was discovered to affect the plasma-catalytic performance for NH3 decomposition, with Mo2N-powder catalyst showing higher reactivity compared with Mo2N-particle catalyst. The plasma diagnostic results showed that, compared to the filamentary discharge with Mo2N-particle catalyst, the Mo2N-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.