Efficient C-N coupling in electrocatalytic urea generation on copper carbonate hydroxide electrocatalysts

Urea generation through electrochemical CO 2 and NO 3 − co-reduction reaction (CO 2 NO 3 RR) is still limited by either the low selectivity or yield rate of urea. Herein, we report copper carbonate hydroxide (Cu 2 (OH) 2 CO 3 ) as an efficient CO 2 NO 3 RR electrocatalyst with an impressive urea Faradaic efficiency of 45.2% ± 2.1% and a high yield rate of 1564.5 ± 145.2 μg h −1  mg cat −1 . More importantly, H 2 evolution is fully inhibited on this electrocatalyst over a wide potential range between −0.3 and −0.8 V versus reversible hydrogen electrode. Our thermodynamic simulation reveals that the first C-N coupling follows a unique pathway on Cu 2 (OH) 2 CO 3 by combining the two intermediates, *COOH and *NHO. This work demonstrates that high selectivity and yield rate of urea can be simultaneously achieved on simple Cu-based electrocatalysts in CO 2 NO 3 RR, and provide guidance for rational design of more advanced catalysts.