Photocatalytic synthesis of N2/H2O to ammonia on coal based GO/SiO2 supported Ru composite catalyst

Graphene oxide/silica (GO/SiO 2 ) containing various inorganic particles is obtained by using the Xinjiang Wucaiwan coal as carbon source and silicon source. The ruthenium/graphene oxide/silica (Ru/GO/SiO 2 ) composite was prepared by loading Ru nanoparticles on the surface of GO/SiO 2 . Then, the photocatalytic ammonia synthesis performance was investigated while characterizing the structure of Ru/GO/SiO 2 . On the one hand, the Ru can be sufficiently dispersed to make the surface plasmon resonance (SPR) effect enhance significantly. On the other hand, the quantum confinement effect of the defect structure on the Ru/GO/SiO 2 can effectively separate electron and hole, and it can participate in the reducing/oxidizing reaction of photocatalytic ammonia synthesis.