Local Acidic Microenvironments Enhanced Anodic Formamide Electrosynthesis over Isolated Pd Sites
Abstract Electrocatalytic C─N oxidative coupling of methanol and ammonia enables sustainable formamide synthesis under ambient conditions. However, the poor C─N coupling selectivity and limited Faradaic efficiency hinder practical application. As the critical step involves nucleophilic attack of NH 3 on in situ generated *CH 2 O intermediates, enhancing *CH 2 O electrophilicity while suppressing over‐oxidation is essential. Herein, Pd single atoms anchored on MnO 2 nanoarrays achieve state‐of‐the‐art Faradaic efficiency (62.6%) and carbon selectivity (80.2%) for anodic formamide synthesis. In situ characterization and theoretical simulations reveal dual enhancement mechanisms: Isolated Pd sites adopt end‐on *CH 2 O adsorption to expose the electrophilic carbon, while the MnO 2 ‐induced acidic microenvironment enhances *CH 2 O electrophilicity via oxygen‐atom protonation. This synergy accelerates nucleophilic attack by NH 3 , enabling efficient C─N coupling.
Authors
- Ming Jiang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6102-8785)
- Baian Shen
- Yaoxin Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1610-7326)
- Xinbin Ma
- Yuyi Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7273-9873)
- Yanmei Huang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7258-2335)
- Yifu Yu
- Hongjiao Li
- TianTian Xiao
Institutions
- Tianjin University of Technology (CN)
- Tianjin University (CN)
- Sichuan University (CN)
- Unité Matériaux et Transformations (FR)
- Xinjiang University (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Angewandte Chemie
- Published
- 2026-01-19
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1002/ange.202521334
- Primary Topic
- Ammonia Synthesis and Nitrogen Reduction
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00