2022/09/10 by Xiaoran Zhang, Xiaorong Zhu, Shuowen Bo +12 · 6 citations
Chemical Engineering · Energy · #Ammonia Synthesis and Nitrogen Reduction #Electrocatalysts for Energy Conversion #CO2 Reduction Techniques and Catalysts
paper · pdf · doi:10.1038/s41467-022-33066-6
openalex publication_date 2022/09/10 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/23
Abstract Electrocatalytic urea synthesis emerged as the promising alternative of Haber–Bosch process and industrial urea synthetic protocol. Here, we report that a diatomic catalyst with bonded Fe–Ni pairs can significantly improve the efficiency of electrochemical urea synthesis. Compared with isolated diatomic and single-atom catalysts, the bonded Fe–Ni pairs act as the efficient sites for coordinated adsorption and activation of multiple reactants, enhancing the crucial C–N coupling thermodynamically and kinetically. The performance for urea synthesis up to an order of magnitude higher than those of single-atom and isolated diatomic electrocatalysts, a high urea yield rate of 20.2 mmol h −1 g −1 with corresponding Faradaic efficiency of 17.8% has been successfully achieved. A total Faradaic efficiency of about 100% for the formation of value-added urea, CO, and NH 3 was realized. This work presents an insight into synergistic catalysis towards sustainable urea synthesis via identifying and tailoring the atomic site configurations.