Plasma chemical synthesis. II. Effect of wall surface on the synthesis of ammonia

Abstract

The plasma synthesis of ammonia was stuided at pressures of 1–5 torr and flow rates of up to 200 torr cm³ min⁻¹ using Pyrex and silver surfaces cooled to 77 K. The N conversion to ammonia was about 13% in experiments in which the afterglow was trapped on the Pyrex surface. By quenching the plasma rather than the afterglow, the percent N conversion could be doubled using the Pyrex surface and quadrupled using the silver surface. Increasing the hydrogen pressure and/or hydrogen discharge cleaning decreased the percent N conversion; nitrogen discharge conditioning had no significant effect. With increasing nitrogen flow rate the percent N conversion decreased linearly in the quenched plasma reaction on the silver surface, suggesting nitriding and reduction by hydrogen to form ammonia. The exponential decrease of the percent N conversion in the quenched afterglow reaction on the Pyrex surface is explained by the formation and/or dissociation of adsorbed N₂ determining the ammonia yield at 77 K.