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Electrochemically and Bioelectrochemically Induced Ammonium Recovery
Published on: January 22, 2015
Ferroelectric Heterojunction with Spatiotemporally Programmable CO Spillover Pathways Boosts Urea Electrosynthesis
Liying Zhang1, Wenzhe Shang2, Yao Li1
1Key Laboratory of Industrial Ecology and Environmental Engineering (Ministry of Education, China), School of Environmental Science and Technology, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian116024, China.
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Electrochemical urea synthesis offers a sustainable strategy for the purification and resource utilization of greenhouse gases and water pollutants. However, kinetic disparities between the competing reduction pathways of CO2 and NO3- lead to spatiotemporal mismatches between C- and N-intermediates, severely hindering efficient C-N coupling. In this context, we demonstrated a strategic design of enzyme-inspired "spatial decoupling-temporal coupling" on a ferroelectric SnS-Cu0.15-TiO2 heterojunction. A high urea yield rate of 2392.5 μg h-1 mgcat-1 with a Faradaic efficiency (FE) of 71.2% outperforms the state-of-the-art electrocatalysts. Atomically dispersed Cu1 sites induce an unprecedented ferroelectricity enhancement, whereby a strengthened built-in electric field generates spatially resolved charge domains for coactivation of both CO2 and NO3-. Correlated in situ Raman and infrared spectroscopic studies disclose that the S-Cu1-O interfacial channels mediate remote *CO spillover and its dynamic, temporal coupling with *NH2. Moreover, a coupled electrolyzer integrating the electrocatalytic upcycling of wastewater-derived NO3- and Cl- achieves a remarkable 79.4% urea FE, while enabling simultaneous environmental remediation. This work highlights the unique advantages of ferroelectric heterojunctions-mediated dynamic catalysis in regulating complex reaction networks for urea electrosynthesis, opening sustainable electrochemical routes toward CO2 mitigation and the green transformation of coastal wastewater treatment.
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