Boosted Nitrate and CO<sub>2</sub> Reduction for Urea Electrosynthesis on p-Block Bi Dispersed Ru Alloys
Shiyao Shang, Wangchun Duan, Xue Zeng, Xijun Liu, Ke Chu
Abstract
Electrocatalytic coreduction of NO 3 – and CO 2 to urea (ENCU) provides a promising approach for attaining both efficient urea production and harmful NO 3 – removal. In this study, p-block Bi dispersed Ru (RuBi 1 ) alloys are designed as an efficient and durable ENCU electrocatalyst. The combined operando spectroscopic measurements and theoretical calculations unravel that the Ru–Ru site and Ru–Bi 1 site on RuBi 1 can synergetically promote *CO/*NH 2 generation and C–N coupling, while hampering the competitive side reactions, thereby leading to a high CO 2 /NO 3 – -to-urea efficiency. Notably, RuBi 1 in a flow cell delivers an impressive urea yield rate of 32.94 mmol h –1 g –1 and a Faradaic efficiency of 52.96% along with excellent stability for 100 h of electrolysis.