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Updated: Oct 25, 2026

Synthesis and Performance Characterizations of Transition Metal Single Atom Catalyst for Electrochemical CO2 Reduction
Published on: April 10, 2018
Enzyme-Mimetic Tri-Site Catalyst Enables High-Performance Electrochemical Urea Synthesis
Wenya Fan1, Changjing Wang1, Chengbin Zhang1
1Key Laboratory of Synthetic and Biological Colloids, Ministry of Education, School of Chemical and Material Engineering, Jiangnan University, Wuxi214122, China.
Abstract:
Electrochemical urea synthesis from CO2 and NO3- offers a low-energy, green alternative to the traditional Bosch-Meiser route. However, mismatched adsorption of C/N intermediates, complex proton-coupled electron transfer, and high C-N coupling barrier on conventional single- or dual-site catalysts greatly hinder catalytic efficiency. Herein, we proposed a novel, enzyme-mimetic tri-site design to spatially decouple CO2 → *CO, NO3- → *NH2, and subsequent C-N coupling. As a prototype, tri-site Sn-doped CuOx nanoparticles were constructed, where Cu1 stabilizes *CO and suppresses further protonation. Cu0 drives the stepwise reduction of NO3- to *NH2OH, which is rapidly protonated into *NH2 and spills over to Sn site. Eventually, *CO and *NH2 undergo efficient C-N coupling to form urea. Therefore, Sn/CuOx catalyst delivers a urea yield of 4824 μg h-1 mgcat-1, 26.8% Faradaic efficiency, 69.3% C-selectivity, and 30.5% N-selectivity, outperforming the bare CuOx counterpart. This work demonstrates a promising enzyme-mimetic and tandem electrocatalysis paradigm for green fertilizer synthesis.
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