Sn catalyst reconstruction and microenvironment modulation for efficient amino acid electrosynthesis via C–N coupling

作者：Shuhe Han, Huimin Liu, Janis Timoshenko, Joonbaek Jang, Mengyao Su, Chenghua Sun, Chengying Guo, Yanmei Huang, Arno Bergmann, Beatriz Roldán Cuenya, Yifu Yu, Bin Zhang, Kai Leng, Kian Ping Loh · 发表于：Nature Communications · 年份：2026 · DOI：10.1038/s41467-026-71694-4 · 被引用次数：2 · 研究领域：Catalysis for Biomass Conversion、Radical Photochemical Reactions、Electrocatalysts for Energy Conversion

Abstract The electrosynthesis of amino acids represents a fascinating and promising frontier in green chemistry, offering a sustainable alternative to conventional industrial processes such as the energy-intensive Strecker synthesis through the adoption of efficient, electricity-driven methods. Herein, Sn is identified as an effective catalyst for glycine electrosynthesis using concentrated nitric acid and oxalic acid as feedstocks, and we investigate the reaction mechanism at industrial-level current rate (1 A cm -2 ). In-situ characterization reveals that the Sn undergoes dynamic valence cycle and reconstructs into amorphous-Sn under acidic conditions. At high current, the change in local pH promotes the anionic states of oxalic acid and C-intermediates, which enhances the adsorption of key intermediates such as glyoxalic acid and acid oxime. This switches the mechanism from a chain reaction to an interfacial hydrogenation, thereby increasing the rate of glycine formation. By increasing the dominance of interfacial reaction versus the chain reaction, we achieve a glycine Faradaic efficiency of 93%, and industrial-level partial current density of 0.9 A cm −2 in a flow cell.