Direct Electrosynthesis of Urea from Carbon Dioxide and Nitric Oxide

Electrochemical synthesis of urea provides a sustainable strategy that can be easily incorporated into currently distributed renewable energy systems. The main challenge that hindered the advancement of this technique lies in developing advanced electrocatalytic processes to utilize abundant and low-cost inorganic carbon and nitrogen sources for highly productive urea generation. Herein, we report an electrocatalytic reaction that converts carbon dioxide (CO2) and nitric oxide (NO) into urea, with water as the hydrogen source, under ambient conditions. The yield rate and Faradaic efficiency of urea reach 15.13 mmol g–1 h–1 and 11.26% at a current density of 40 mA cm–2 under optimized conditions. The critical intermediates of *CO and *NH2 for urea generation are obtained via the co-reduction of CO2 and NO and then continuously interconnect to form the C–N bond. A preliminary techno-economic study is performed to discuss the practical application potential of this strategy for urea production.