Electrosynthesis of Urea from Carbon Dioxide and Waste Nitrates: History, Recent Progress, and Future Prospects

Abstract Electrosynthesis of urea from carbon dioxide (CO ₂ ) and waste nitrates has gained increasing attention as a sustainable alternative to conventional urea production methods, offering a promising route to simultaneously convert CO ₂ and waste nitrates into value‐added chemicals. However, current urea electrosynthesis still faces challenges such as low Faradaic efficiency and ultralow urea yield rate, which hinder its practical application. To address these limitations, extensive efforts have been devoted to developing more effective electrocatalysts with high activity and high selectivity through various strategies. This review systematically covers the history of urea electrosynthesis, particularly highlighting recent advances, focusing on the development of electrocatalysts and electrolyzers for the electrosynthesis of urea from CO ₂ and waste nitrates. Furthermore, catalysis mechanisms and the theoretical prediction for the catalyst design are discussed. In addition, the key challenges in this field, along with perspectives on future research directions, are outlined.