Regulating Active Hydrogen Supply Over Cu Clusters‐Interspersed MoS <sub>2</sub> /MoO <sub>2</sub> Nanosheets for Efficient Urea Electrosynthesis
Abstract Electrochemical urea synthesis is critically restricted by insufficient supply of active hydrogen ( * H) for the hydrogeneration of CO 2 and nitrate (NO 3 − ). Here, a tandem sites catalyst is designed by anchoring Cu clusters on MoS 2 /MoO 2 nanosheets (Cu‐MoS 2 /MoO 2 ), with the Cu sites activating CO 2 and NO 3 − and the Mo sites dissociating water to produce * H. In situ spectroscopic analysis and theoretical calculations reveal that the sufficient * H supply greatly promotes intermediate hydrogenation, thus enhancing C─N coupling for urea synthesis. Consequently, the Cu‐MoS 2 /MoO 2 catalyst displays significantly enhance performance of urea synthesis from CO 2 and NO 3 − , achieving a high yield of 117.5 mmol h −1 g cat. −1 at −0.6 V versus the reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE). Besides, stable electrocatalytic urea production is maintained for 68 h without a decline in yield or Faradaic efficiency. This work provides a meaningful perspective on modulating active hydrogen to promote urea production.
Authors
- Hark Hoe Tan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7816-537X)
- Yan Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5224-0941)
- Yong Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4308-6487)
- Cuiping Yu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9575-7414)
- Kui Chen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7994-413X)
- Miao Han (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0002-0045-9252)
- Yucheng Wu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1549-0546)
- Jianfang Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6275-3030)
- Hao Tan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9253-4701)
- Shuai Xia (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7474-107X)
- Jiayu Liu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4172-8802)
Institutions
- Australian National University (AU)
- University of Science and Technology of China (CN)
- Hefei University of Technology (CN)
- Advanced Energy Materials (United States) (US)
- National Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Advanced Functional Materials
- Published
- 2025-09-21
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1002/adfm.202519152
- Citations
- 3
- Primary Topic
- Ammonia Synthesis and Nitrogen Reduction
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 1.17