Recent Advances in Urea Electrocatalysis: Applications, Materials and Mechanisms †

作者：Chu Zhang, Shi‐Jie Chen, Liwei Guo, Zeyu Li, Chunshuang Yan, Chade Lv · 发表于：Chinese Journal of Chemistry · 年份：2024 · DOI：10.1002/cjoc.202400442 · 被引用次数：43 · 研究领域：Ammonia Synthesis and Nitrogen Reduction、CO2 Reduction Techniques and Catalysts、Electrocatalysts for Energy Conversion

Comprehensive Summary Urea plays a vital role in human society, which has various applications in organic synthesis, medicine, materials chemistry, and other fields. Conventional industrial urea production process is energy−intensive and environmentally damaging. Recently, electrosynthesis offers a greener alternative to efficient urea synthesis involving coupling CO 2 and nitrogen sources at ambient conditions, which affords an achievable way for diminishing the energy consumption and CO 2 emissions. Additionally, urea electrolysis, namely the electrocatalytic urea oxidation reaction (UOR), is another emerging approach very recently. When coupling with hydrogen evolution reaction, the UOR route potentially utilizes 93% less energy than water electrolysis. Although there have been many individual reviews discussing urea electrosynthesis and urea electrooxidation, there is a critical need for a comprehensive review on urea electrocatalysis. The review will serve as a valuable reference for the design of advanced electrocatalysts to enhance the electrochemical urea electrocatalysis performance. In the review, we present a thorough review on two aspects: the electrocatalytic urea synthesis and urea oxidation reaction. We summarize in turn the recently reported catalyst materials, multiple catalysis mechanisms and catalyst design principles for electrocatalytic urea synthesis and urea electrolysis. Finally, major challenges and opportunities are also proposed to inspire further d...