Synergistic treatment of carbon dioxide and nitrogen-containing wastewater by electrochemical C-N coupling

Electrocatalytic CO₂ reduction technology has been considered a promising approach to alleviate the severe environmental and energy issues caused by the anthropogenic over-emission of CO₂. Coupling CO₂ reduction with nitrogen (N)-pollutants reduction from wastewater to produce higher valued products (e.g., urea, amide, amine, etc.) could significantly extend the application scenarios and product categories of CO₂ reduction technologies. This paper investigates the available CO₂ and N-pollutants sources and summarizes the recent progress of electrocatalytic C-N coupling reactions. Based on the fundamental research, technical concerns for scale-up applications of C-N coupling electrocatalysis are thoroughly discussed. Finally, we prospect the opportunities and challenges with an in-depth understanding of the underlying dominant factors in applying C-N coupling electrocatalysis. Further development in recycling CO₂ and N pollutants via the electrocatalytic C-N coupling process is also discussed.