<p>The electrosynthesis of pure urea via the co-reduction of CO<sub>2</sub> and N<sub>2</sub> remains challenging. Here we show that a proton-limited environment established in an electrolyser equipped with porous solid-state electrolyte, devoid of an aqueous electrolyte, can suppress the hydrogen evolution reaction and excessive hydrogenation of N<sub>2</sub> to ammonia. This can instead be conducive to the C–N coupling of *CO<sub>2</sub> with *NHNH (the intermediate from the semi-hydrogenation of N<sub>2</sub>), thereby facilitating the production of urea. By using nanosheets of an ultrathin two-dimensional metal–azolate framework with cyclic heterotrimetal clusters as catalyst, the Faradaic efficiency of urea production from pretreated flue gas (which contains mainly 85% N<sub>2</sub> and 15% CO<sub>2</sub>) is as high as 65.5%, and no ammonia and other liquid products were generated. At a low cell voltage of 2.0 V, the current can reach 100 mA, and the urea production rate is as high as 5.07 g g<sub>cat</sub><sup>−1</sup> h<sup>−1</sup> or 84.4 mmol g<sub>cat</sub><sup>−1</sup> h<sup>−1</sup>. Notably, it can continuously produce 6.2 wt% pure urea aqueous solution for at least 30 h, and about 1.24 g pure urea solid was obtained. The use of pretreated flue gas as a direct feedstock significantly reduces input costs, and the high reaction rate and selectivity contribute to a reduction in system scale and operational costs.</p>

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Electrosynthesis of pure urea from pretreated flue gas in a proton-limited environment established in a porous solid-state electrolyte electrolyser

  • Yan-Chen Liu,
  • Jia-Run Huang,
  • Hao-Lin Zhu,
  • Xiao-Feng Qiu,
  • Can Yu,
  • Xiao-Ming Chen,
  • Pei-Qin Liao

摘要

The electrosynthesis of pure urea via the co-reduction of CO2 and N2 remains challenging. Here we show that a proton-limited environment established in an electrolyser equipped with porous solid-state electrolyte, devoid of an aqueous electrolyte, can suppress the hydrogen evolution reaction and excessive hydrogenation of N2 to ammonia. This can instead be conducive to the C–N coupling of *CO2 with *NHNH (the intermediate from the semi-hydrogenation of N2), thereby facilitating the production of urea. By using nanosheets of an ultrathin two-dimensional metal–azolate framework with cyclic heterotrimetal clusters as catalyst, the Faradaic efficiency of urea production from pretreated flue gas (which contains mainly 85% N2 and 15% CO2) is as high as 65.5%, and no ammonia and other liquid products were generated. At a low cell voltage of 2.0 V, the current can reach 100 mA, and the urea production rate is as high as 5.07 g gcat−1 h−1 or 84.4 mmol gcat−1 h−1. Notably, it can continuously produce 6.2 wt% pure urea aqueous solution for at least 30 h, and about 1.24 g pure urea solid was obtained. The use of pretreated flue gas as a direct feedstock significantly reduces input costs, and the high reaction rate and selectivity contribute to a reduction in system scale and operational costs.