Efficient urea electrosynthesis from carbon dioxide and nitrate via alternating Cu–W bimetallic C–N coupling sites
Yilong Zhao, Yunxuan Ding, Wenlong Li, Chang Liu, Yingzheng Li, Ziqi Zhao, Shan Yu, Fei Li, Licheng Sun, Fusheng Li, Fusheng Li, Fusheng Li
Abstract
Abstract Electrocatalytic urea synthesis is an emerging alternative technology to the traditional energy-intensive industrial urea synthesis protocol. Novel strategies are urgently needed to promote the electrocatalytic C–N coupling process and inhibit the side reactions. Here, we report a CuWO 4 catalyst with native bimetallic sites that achieves a high urea production rate (98.5 ± 3.2 μg h −1 mg −1 cat ) for the co-reduction of CO 2 and NO 3 − with a high Faradaic efficiency (70.1 ± 2.4%) at −0.2 V versus the reversible hydrogen electrode. Mechanistic studies demonstrated that the combination of stable intermediates of *NO 2 and *CO increases the probability of C–N coupling and reduces the potential barrier, resulting in high Faradaic efficiency and low overpotential. This study provides a new perspective on achieving efficient urea electrosynthesis by stabilizing the key reaction intermediates, which may guide the design of other electrochemical systems for high-value C–N bond-containing chemicals.