Electrocatalytic Urea Production with Nitrate and CO₂ on a Ru‐Dispersed Co Catalyst

Abstract Urea electrosynthesis from co‐electrolysis of NO₃⁻ and CO₂ (UENC) provides an alternative route for realizing efficient and sustainable urea production. In this work, single‐atom Ru dispersed on Co (Ru₁Co) is demonstrated as an effective and robust catalyst for the UENC. In situ spectroscopic measurements and theoretical simulations unravel the cooperative effect of Ru₁ and Co sites to promote the UENC process via a tandem catalysis mechanism, where the Ru₁ site activates the adsorption and hydrogenation of NO₃⁻ to form ^*NH₂, while the Co site activates the adsorption and hydrogenation/deoxygenation of CO₂ to form ^*CO. The generated ^*CO is then transferred from the Co site to the nearby Ru₁ site which promotes the C─N coupling of ^*NH₂ and ^*CO toward the urea formation. Strikingly, Ru₁Co assembled in a flow cell shows the highest urea‐Faradaic efficiency of 50.1% with the corresponding urea yield rate of 22.34 mmol h⁻¹ g⁻¹ at −0.5 V (RHE), superior to most reported UENC catalysts for urea production.