# CoWO<sub>4</sub> nanoparticles with dual active sites for highly efficient ammonia synthesis

https://mdr.nims.go.jp/datasets/51ee7879-b583-484b-b64d-871684658928

## File

- [Nanoscale Horizon Accepted version.docx](https://mdr.nims.go.jp/filesets/e653b48d-75b9-4607-8117-e99506df320e/download) ([Detail](https://mdr.nims.go.jp/filesets/e653b48d-75b9-4607-8117-e99506df320e.md))

## Id

51ee7879-b583-484b-b64d-871684658928

## Local identifier



## Visibility

open_to_public

## State

published

## Created at

2025-06-04T02:55:28.983177Z

## Updated at

2026-02-14T12:52:27.901351Z

## Published at

2026-04-14T23:25:03.793497Z

## Doi

https://doi.org/10.48505/nims.5516

## First published url

https://doi.org/10.1039/d5nh00120j

## Date published

2025-04-14

## Recorded date published

2025-5-27

## Resource type

journal_article

## Manuscript type

accepted_manuscript

## Collection



## Title

- title: CoWO<sub>4</sub> nanoparticles with dual active sites for highly efficient
    ammonia synthesis
  title_type: original
  lang: en

## Description

- description: The electrochemical reduction of NO3⁻ (NO3RR) represents a promising
    green technology for ammonia (NH3) synthesis. Among various electrocatalysts,
    Co-based materials have demonstrated considerable potential for NO3RR. However,
    the NH3 yield efficiency of Co-based materials is still limited due to challenges
    in competitive hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and hydrogenating oxynitride
    intermediates (*NOx). In this study, elements of tungsten (W) and cobalt (Co)
    are coincorporated to form cobalt tungstate (CoWO4) nanoparticles with dual active
    sites, which are applied to optimize the hydrogenation of NOx and decrease HER,
    thereby achieving highly efficient NO3RR to NH3. Theoretical calculations indicate
    that Co sites in CoWO4 facilitate the adsorption and hydrogenation of *NOx intermediates,
    while W sites suppress the competitive HER. These dual active sites work synergistically
    to enhance NH3 production from NO3RR. Inspired by these calculations, CoWO4 nanoparticles
    are synthesized using a simple ion precipitation method, with sizes ranging from
    10 to 30 nm. Electrochemical performance demonstrates that CoWO4 nanoparticles
    exhibit a high Faradaic efficiency of 97.8 ± 1.5% and an NH3 yield of 13.2 mg
    h−1 cm−2. In situ Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy characterizes the enhanced
    adsorption and hydrogenation behaviors of *NOx as well as minimized HER on CoWO4,
    which contributes to the high efficiency and selectivity to NH3. This work introduces
    a CoWO4 nanoparticle electrocatalytic material with dual active sites, which contribute
    to the design of electrocatalysts for synthesizing NH3.
  description_type: abstract
  lang: und

## Creator

- name: Lian Duan
  role: author
- name: Zhencong Huang
  role: author
- name: Gen Chen
  role: author
- name: Min Liu
  role: author
- name: Xiaohe Liu
  role: author
- name: Renzhi Ma
  role: author
  orcid: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7126-2006
  organization: National Institute for Materials Science
- name: Ning Zhang
  role: author

## Contact agent



## Publisher

organization: Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC)

## Managing organization



## Keyword

- subject: Nanoparticle
  schema: not_defined
- subject: Ammonia synthesis
  schema: not_defined
- subject: Electrocatalyst
  schema: not_defined

## Rights

- identifier: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

## Other identifier(s)



## Data origin

- data_origin_type: other

## Embargo

start_date: 2025-04-15
end_date: 2026-04-16

## Journal

- title: Nanoscale Horizons
  issn: '20556756'
  volume: '10'
  issue: '6'
  start_page: 1096
  end_page: 1106

## Conference



## Related item



## Funding

- identifier: '22072183'
  funder_name: National Natural Science Foundation of China
- identifier: 2022JJ30690
  funder_name: Natural Science Foundation of Hunan Province

## Instrument



## Instrument operator



## Instrument managing organization



## Measurement method



## Specimen



## Chemical composition



## Structure for specimen



## Structural feature for specimen



## Specific property for specimen



## Process for specimen treatment



## Computational method



## Energy level/transition state



## Software



## Custom property



## Fileset

- id: e653b48d-75b9-4607-8117-e99506df320e
  filename: Nanoscale Horizon Accepted version.docx
  content_type: application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document
  size: 13375553
  md5: 95270da7bb46cf345207e4ecea92c909

## Thumbnail

fileset_id: e653b48d-75b9-4607-8117-e99506df320e
filename: Nanoscale Horizon Accepted version.docx