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, Yu Shan, Fei Li, Licheng Sun () and Fusheng Li ()
Additional contact information
Yilong Zhao: Dalian University of Technology
Yunxuan Ding: Westlake University
Wenlong Li: Dalian University of Technology
Chang Liu: Dalian University of Technology
Yingzheng Li: Dalian University of Technology
Ziqi Zhao: Dalian University of Technology
Yu Shan: Dalian University of Technology
Fei Li: Dalian University of Technology
Licheng Sun: Dalian University of Technology
Fusheng Li: Dalian University of Technology

Nature Communications, 2023, vol. 14, issue 1, 1-12

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 CuWO4 catalyst with native bimetallic sites that achieves a high urea production rate (98.5 ± 3.2 μg h−1 mg−1cat) for the co-reduction of CO2 and NO3− 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 *NO2 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.

Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-023-40273-2 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:14:y:2023:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-023-40273-2

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-40273-2

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().