@article{Wei2026, 
author = {Yuao Wei and Shuoshuo Liu and Ge Huang and Chenyang Zha and Faisal Saleem and Wenjing Liu},
title = {Electron-sponge polyoxometalate for interfacial electron and hydrogen regulation toward nitrate to ammonia reduction},
year = {2026},
journal = {Polyoxometalates},
keywords = {polyoxometalates, electrocatalytic nitrate reduction, polyoxometalate derivatives, active hydrogen regulation},
url = {https://www.sciopen.com/article/10.26599/POM.2026.9140170},
doi = {10.26599/POM.2026.9140170},
abstract = {Electrocatalytic nitrate reduction to ammonia (ENRA) offers a sustainable strategy for simultaneously mitigating nitrate pollution and producing green ammonia under ambient conditions. However, its efficiency is severely limited by sluggish multi-electron transfer kinetics and the competing hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), particularly due to insufficient regulation of interfacial active hydrogen species (*H). Polyoxometalates (POMs) feature abundant oxygen-rich sites capable of reversible protonation, thereby serving as an effective source of *H. Here, we report a POMs-modulated Cu2O–Cu catalyts that enables synergistic regulation of interfacial electron distribution and *H availability. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy confirms pronounced electron transfer between POMs and Cu2O–Cu, while electrochemical analyses reveal that POMs modification significantly enhances the adsorption and storage capacity of *H, thereby promoting nitrate activation and hydrogenation. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations further reveal that POMs-induced interfacial charge redistribution optimizes nitrate intermediate adsorption and lowers the energy barrier of key proton-coupled electron transfer steps, thereby accelerating the ENRA pathway. As a result, the optimized catalyst delivers a high ammonia yield of 36.5 mg h−1 mgcat.−1 and excellent Faradaic efficiency of 97.4%. This work provides a general strategy for constructing POMs-based electrocatalysts via interfacial electron and hydrogen regulation, offering new insights into the rational design of selective ENRA systems.}
}