@article{Hu2026, 
author = {Xiaohu Hu and Jiakai Wang and Zhongliang Cao and Haolong Chang and Yifan Yan and Zhenjie Sun and Xing Chen and Langli Luo and Yongan Yang},
title = {Strontium carbonate: A bifunctional support to enhance Ru catalysts for ammonia synthesis under mild conditions},
year = {2026},
journal = {Nano Research},
volume = {19},
number = {8},
pages = {94908744},
keywords = {ammonia synthesis, Ru-based catalysts, strontium carbonate, electron donation},
url = {https://www.sciopen.com/article/10.26599/NR.2026.94908744},
doi = {10.26599/NR.2026.94908744},
abstract = {Toward enhancing the NH3 synthesis activity of Ru-based catalysts under mild conditions, various electron donors have been intensively investigated. The electron donation typically originates from either the support itself or the external promoter that transforms into a near-metallic state during the reaction, yet single materials combining both pathways remain rarely reported. This work developed such a bifunctional support, strontium carbonate (SrCO3). Over the Ru-SrCO3/carbon nanotubes (CNTs) catalyst, surface SrCO3 was partially reduced in-situ to form near-metallic Sr0 species, which, together with the unreduced basic Sr2+ in the bulk SrCO3, donate electrons to Ru sites, achieving highly efficient N2 activation. Moreover, the SrCO3 support can also boost NH3 desorption and mitigate hydrogen poisoning. The potassium-promoted catalyst K-Ru-SrCO3/CNTs even delivers an outstanding NH3-synthesis rate of 61.6  mmolNH3·gcat−1·h−1 at 400 °C and 0.9 MPa, outperforming most state-of-the-art Ru-based catalysts with Ru mass-loading ≤ 5 wt.% reported to date.}
}