Investigation of NH₄NO₃ formation by air plasma and wasted ammonia

This study investigated NH 4 NO 3 formation by air plasma and NH 3 in three different reaction modes for nitrogen fixation and environmental protection. A DC‐driven needle–needle discharge was used. We found that NH 4 NO 3 could be effectively formed by directly mixing NO x (generated by air discharge) and NH 3 in Mode 1. In Mode 3, when discharging in the air/NH 3 mixture, no NH 4 NO 3 was detected. However, in Mode 2, when discharging in the NO x /air/NH 3 mixture, NH 4 NO 3 was first formed and then subsequently decreased as the discharging time increased. NH 4 NO 3 was identified by white smoke observation and gas/aqueous‐phase Fourier‐transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) analysis. Stable NH 4 NO 3 formation may be affected by self‐thermal decomposition and NH 3 decomposition through discharge.