Regulating *OCHO Intermediate as Rate‐Determining Step of Defective Oxynitride Nanosheets Enabling Robust CO2 Electroreduction

Abstract The electrochemical conversion of CO 2 into hydrocarbons is an important approach to store sustainable energy and address climate concerns. However, it is a huge challenge to unearth a promising model for elucidating the role of dopants and vacancies on catalysts upon CO 2 electroreduction. Herein, porous indium oxynitride nanosheets with simultaneous incorporation of nitrogen dopant and oxygen vacancy (V o ‐N‐InON) are reported for achieving efficient CO 2 conversion to formic acid (HCOOH). As a result, the catalyst exhibits an extremely high formate selectivity of 95.1% at a low potential of −0.8 V versus reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE) compared with pristine In 2 O 3 , V o ‐In 2 O 3 , and InN, delivering a large partial current density of 121.1 mA cm –2 for formate production at −1.13 V versus RHE in the flow cell. Density functional theory calculations reveal that the generation of *OCHO intermediate is the rate‐determining step. The synergistic effect between nitrogen dopants and oxygen vacancies contributes to the activation of CO 2 , facilitates the charge transfer, and reduces the reaction free energy of *OCHO protonation. This work not only discloses a fundamental understanding of synergistic effects between nitrogen dopants and oxygen vacancies to improve catalytic performance, but also provides an effective platform toward CO 2 conversion.