Realizing the reduction of N₂ to NH₃ at low temperature and pressure is always the unremitting pursuit of scientists and then electrochemical nitrogen reduction reaction offers an intriguing alternative. Here, we develop a feasible way, gamma irradiation, for constructing defective structure on the surface of WO₃ nanosheets, which is clearly observed at the atomic scale by high-angle annular dark-field scanning transmission electron microscopy (HAADF-STEM). The abundant oxygen vacancies ensure WO₃ nanosheets with a Faradaic efficiency of 23% at −0.3 V vs. RHE. Moreover, we start from the regulation of the surface state to suppress proton availability towards hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) on the active site and thus boost the selectivity of nitrogen reduction.

在低温和低压下实现N ₂到NH ₃的还原始终是科学家们的不懈追求，然后电化学氮还原反应提供了一种有趣的选择。在这里，我们开发了一种可行的方法，即伽马射线辐射，用于在WO ₃纳米片的表面上构建缺陷结构，通过高角度环形暗场扫描透射电子显微镜（HAADF-STEM）可以在原子尺度上清楚地观察到该结构。充足的氧空位确保WO ₃纳米片在-0.3 V下相对于RHE的法拉第效率为23％。此外，我们从调节表面态开始，以抑制质子在活性位点上向氢释放反应（HER）的可用性，从而提高氮还原的选择性。