Electrocatalytic nitrate reduction reaction (NO₃RR) represents a sustainable and environmentally benign route for ammonia (NH₃) synthesis. However, NO₃RR is still limited by the competition from hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and the high energy barrier in the hydrogenation step of nitrogen-containing intermediates. Here, we report a selective etching strategy to construct RuM nanoalloys (M = Fe, Co, Ni, Cu) uniformly dispersed on porous nitrogen-doped carbon substrates for efficient neutral NH₃ electrosynthesis. Density functional theory calculations confirm that the synergic effect between Ru and transition metal M modulates the electronic structure of the alloy, significantly lowering the energy barrier for the conversion of *NO₂ to *HNO₂. Experimentally, the optimized RuFe-NC catalyst achieves 100% Faraday efficiency with a high yield rate of 0.83 mg h⁻¹ mg_cat ⁻¹ at a low potential of − 0.1 V vs. RHE, outperforming most reported catalysts. In situ spectroscopic analyses further demonstrate that the RuM-NC effectively promotes the hydrogenation of nitrogen intermediates while inhibiting the formation of hydrogen radicals, thereby reducing HER competition. The RuFe-NC assembled Zn-NO₃ ⁻ battery achieved a high open-circuit voltage and an outstanding power density and capacity, which drive selective NO₃ ⁻ conversion to NH₃. This work provides a powerful synergistic design strategy for efficient NH₃ electrosynthesis and a general framework for the development of advanced multi-component catalysts for sustainable nitrogen conversion.

In this study, a commercial agent with antivirus activity and moroxydine hydrochloride were employed to perform a lead optimization. A series of 1,3,5-triazine derivatives with piperazine structures were devised and synthesized, and an evaluation of their anti-potato virus Y (PVY) activity revealed that several of the target compounds possessed potent anti-PVY activity. The synthesis of compound C35 was directed by a 3D-quantitative structure–activity relationship that used the compound’s structural parameters. The assessment of the anti-PVY activity of compound C35 revealed that its curative, protective, and inactivation activities (53.3 ± 2.5%, 56.9 ± 1.5%, and 85.8 ± 4.4%, respectively) were comparable to the positive control of ningnanmycin (49.1 ± 2.4%, 50.7 ± 4.1%, and 82.3 ± 6.4%) and were superior to moroxydine hydrochloride (36.7 ± 2.7%, 31.4 ± 2.0%, and 57.1 ± 1.8%). In addition, molecular docking demonstrated that C35 can form hydrogen bonds with glutamic acid at position 150 (GLU 150) of PVY CP, providing a partial theoretical basis for the antiviral activity of the target compounds.