Fe-doping induced synergetic effects, including the morphological change of crystalline CeO2 to partial-amorphous nanosheets, enriched O-vacancies and active Ce3+–Ce3+ pairs, were all responsible for the significantly enhanced NRR activity of Fe-CeO2.

The synergistic effect of B-dopants and B-dopant-induced O-vacancies led to the significantly enhanced NRR activity of MnO2 nanosheets with an NH3 yield of 54.2 μg h−1 mg−1 (−0.4 V) and a faradaic efficiency of 16.8% (−0.2 V).

No abstract

Electroreduction of N 2 represents a promising technique for ambient NH 3 synthesis, but exploring efficient electrocatalysts for nitrogen reduction reaction (NRR) remains a key challenge. Herein, we reported our experimental and theoretical findings that FeMoO 4 could be a new candidate for effective and durable NRR in neutral solution. The developed FeMoO 4 nanorods exhibited a fascinating NRR activity with an NH 3 yield of 45.8 μg h −1 mg −1 (−0.5 V) and a Faradaic efficiency of 13.2% (−0.3 V). Mechanistic studies disclosed that Fe and Mo synergistically promoted the N 2 adsorption and accelerated the electron transfer on FeMoO 4 , whereas the unsaturated 3fold coordinated Mo (Mo 3c ) sites served as the main active centers for stabilizing the key *N 2 H intermediate and reducing the reaction energy barrier.