Citation: Yating Yang, Ming Xu, Ze Gao, Ting Wang, Zhaoxing Li, Yuqi Wang, Daming Yang, Ming Feng. Oxygen vacancy engineering of Fe₂O₃ nanospindles via cobalt incorporation for enhanced electrocatalytic N₂ reduction towards NH₃ synthesis[J]. Chinese Chemical Letters, ;2026, 37(11): 112580. doi: 10.1016/j.cclet.2026.112580 shu

Oxygen vacancy engineering of Fe₂O₃ nanospindles via cobalt incorporation for enhanced electrocatalytic N₂ reduction towards NH₃ synthesis

Key Laboratory of Functional Materials Physics and Chemistry of the Ministry of Education, Jilin Normal University, Changchun 130103, China

wangt@jlnu.edu.cn

mingfeng@jlnu.edu.cn

Received Date: 15 October 2025
Revised Date: 20 January 2026
Accepted Date: 3 March 2026
Available Online: 4 March 2026

Figures(4)

The optimization of active sites to enables enhanced sluggish N₂ adsorption and activation while suppressing the thermodynamically favored hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) is extremely important for N₂-to-NH₃ conversion by electrocatalytic nitrogen reduction reaction (NRR), but it remains a great challenge. Herein, a highly efficient oxygen vacancy-rich Fe₂O₃ nanospindles electrocatalyst is successfully constructed via Co incorporation, which induces the attenuation of electron cloud around the Fe site and enhances the adsorption and activation ability of the catalyst to N₂ molecules. It is noteworthy that oxygen vacancies in Fe₂O₃ can be easily controlled by adjusting the amount of Co dopants and the competitive HER process can be effectively inhibited. The optimal Vo:Co-Fe₂O₃–5 demonstrates remarkably enhanced electrocatalytic activity towards NRR with a high NH₃ yield rate of 30.4 μg h^-1 mg^-1_cat. and a large FE of 16.4% under a potential of -0.5 V vs. RHE. Experimental results certificate that Co doping and oxygen vacancy modification modulate the local electronic structure and prolong the Fe-O bond in Fe₂O₃ that lead to the facilitated electron transfer and enhanced N₂ adsorption and activation. This work provides a simple catalyst-design way for the development of advanced metal oxide materials for future energy applications.
- Ammonia synthesis,
- Nitrogen reduction reaction,
- Oxygen vacancy,
- Iron oxide,
- Electrocatalysis
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Oxygen vacancy engineering of Fe2O3 nanospindles via cobalt incorporation for enhanced electrocatalytic N2 reduction towards NH3 synthesis

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Oxygen vacancy engineering of Fe₂O₃ nanospindles via cobalt incorporation for enhanced electrocatalytic N₂ reduction towards NH₃ synthesis