Oriented Synthesis of Glycine from CO<sub>2</sub>, N<sub>2</sub>, and H<sub>2</sub>O via a Cascade Process
Xiangdong Kong, Chunxiao Liu, Zifan Xu, Jiankang Zhao, Jie Ni, Hongliang Li, Tingting Zheng, Chuan Xia, Zhigang Geng, Jie Zeng
Abstract
Abstract Air contains carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen elements that are essential for the constitution of amino acids. Converting the air into amino acids, powered with renewable electricity, provides a green and sustainable alternative to petrochemical‐based methods that produce waste and pollution. Here, taking glycine as an example, we demonstrated the complete production chain for electrorefining amino acids directly from CO 2 , N 2 , and H 2 O. Such a prospective Scheme was composed of three modules, linked by a spontaneous C−N bond formation process. The high‐purity bridging intermediates, separated from the stepwise synthesis, boosted both the carbon selectivity from CO 2 to glycine of 91.7 % and nitrogen selectivity from N 2 to glycine of 98.7 %. Under the optimum condition, we obtained glycine with a partial current density of 160.8 mA cm −2 . The high‐purity solid glycine product was acquired with a separation efficiency of 98.4 %. This work unveils a green and sustainable method for the abiotic creation of amino acids from the air components.