Scalable Electrosynthesis of Formamide through C−N Coupling at the Industrially Relevant Current Density of 120 mA cm<sup>−2</sup>
Jiang Shao, Nannan Meng, Yuting Wang, Baoshun Zhang, Kaiwen Yang, Cuibo Liu, Yifu Yu, Bin Zhang
Abstract
Abstract The scalable and durable electrosynthesis of high‐valued organonitrogen compounds from carbon‐ and nitrogen‐containing small molecules, especially operating at a high current density, is highly desirable. Here, a one‐pot electrooxidation method to synthesize formamide (HCONH 2 ) from methanol and ammonia over a commercial boron‐doped diamond (BDD) catalyst is reported. The formamide selectivity from methanol and formamide Faradaic efficiency (FE ) achieve 73.2 % and 41.2 % at the current density of 120 mA cm −2 with high durability. The C−N bond originates from the nucleophilic attack of ammonia on an aldehyde‐like intermediate. Impressively, an 8 L electrolyzer is employed for the pilot plant test over a 2200 cm 2 BDD electrode, which exhibits 33.5 % FE at 120 mA cm −2 (current: 264 A) with a yield rate of 36.9 g h −1 , demonstrating the potential of this technique for large‐scale electrosynthesis of formamide.