Recent studies have suggested that rare earth (RE) elements in catalysts significantly influence the performance of the ammonia synthesis. The REs appear in various forms in the ammonia synthesis catalysts including supports (oxides, hydrides, and nitrides), promotors, and intermetallic. Besides the conventional RE oxide-supporting catalysts (mainly Ru/REO), some new RE-containing catalyst systems, such as electrode and nitride systems, could drive the ammonia synthesis via a benign Mars—van Krevelen mechanism or multi-active-site mode, affording high ammonia synthesis performance under mild conditions. These works demonstrate the great potential of RE-containing catalysts for more efficient ammonia synthesis. This review summarizes the contributions of different kinds of RE-based catalysts and highlights the function mechanism of incorporated REs. Finally, an overview of this area and the challenges for further investigation are provided.

最近的研究表明催化剂中的稀土（RE）元素显着影响氨合成的性能。稀土以多种形式出现在氨合成催化剂中，包括载体（氧化物、氢化物和氮化物）、促进剂和金属间化合物。除了传统的负载稀土氧化物的催化剂（主要是Ru/REO）外，一些新型的含稀土催化剂系统，例如电极和氮化物系统，可以通过良性的Mars-van Krevelen机制或多活性位点模式驱动氨合成，在温和的条件下提供高氨合成性能。这些工作证明了含稀土催化剂在更高效的氨合成方面的巨大潜力。本综述总结了不同类型的稀土催化剂的贡献，并强调了掺入稀土的作用机制。最后，提供了该领域的概述以及进一步研究的挑战。