Provoked by SAC-mediated decline in NRR interfacial energy barrier, we therefore pursued whether SACs expedite NRR via interfacial polarization. The theoretical feasibility is supported by the vast electrostatic potential difference between SACs and N2 when a sufficient EF was applied (Figures 3A, S45, S46, and S47). Quantitative analysis of this polarization field gives a magnitude of 17.92 eV (Figure 3B), outcompeting N2 ionization potential (15.84 eV). Electrons from SAC protrusions are driven by this field, 36% to N≡N and 60% to the zone between SACs and N2 (Figure 3C). Efficient N2 scission occurs as a consequence of electrons encompassing and thus attacking N2 cadre. As comparison, for pure and nanocluster-interspersed MoS2, rare electrons reach N2 owing to their respective curvature-free and curvature-marginal features that generate insufficient polarization.This work was financially supported by National Natural Science Funds for Distinguished Young Scholars of China (21425728), National Science Foundation of China (51472100), and the 111 Project (B17019). This work has also benefited from National Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory in Beijing and Shanghai for the characterization. We thank the National Supercomputer Center in Jinan for providing high performance computation. We thank Y. Pang for the help during the course of study. We thank L. Cai and J. Shang for the help during the DFT simulation. J.L. and L.Z. supervised the project. J.L. S.C. and F.Q. designed and carried out the experiments. G.Z. carried out the DFT simulations. F.J. and Z.A. contributed to data analysis. J.L. and L.Z. wrote the paper. All the authors discussed results and provided comments during the manuscript preparation. The authors declare no competing interests.
