Cu‐Sn Biphasic Alloy Heterostructure With <i>p‐d</i> Orbital Hybridization for Efficient Electrosynthesis of Amino Acids

ABSTRACT The electrocatalytic conversion of NO x species into amino acids is an attractive approach. However, significant challenges lie in the matching kinetics of C−N coupling and high selectivity for the target product. Herein, a Cu 3 Sn/Cu 6 Sn 5 biphasic alloy heterostructure (Cu‐Sn BAH) with p‐d orbital hybridization has been constructed by phase control engineering for enhanced amino acid electrosynthesis, delivering a remarkable glycine Faradaic efficiency of 80% and a selectivity of 93% at −0.8 V vs. RHE. Experimental and mechanistic studies reveal that the strong p‐d orbital hybridization between d ‐block Cu and p ‐block Sn effectively modulates interfacial electronic structure between Cu 3 Sn and Cu 6 Sn 5 biphasic alloys, promoting the electron transfer and optimizing the adsorption of NO 3– and glyoxylic acid, and thus facilitating the generation of *NH 2 OH with reduced energy barriers and subsequent oxime hydrogenation. This work offers a distinctive electrocatalyst design strategy for highly selective amino acid synthesis via orbital engineering and heterostructure construction, and also encourages the development of C−N coupling systems.

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Publication Details

Journal
Angewandte Chemie
Published
2026-03-28
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1002/ange.7419264
Primary Topic
Ammonia Synthesis and Nitrogen Reduction
Type
article
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article

Cu‐Sn Biphasic Alloy Heterostructure With p‐d Orbital Hybridization for Efficient Electrosynthesis of Amino Acids

Jiahui Xian, Ruiqi Xiang, Shilin Bo, Kaixing Cai et al.
Angewandte Chemie
Ammonia Synthesis and Nitrogen Reduction
article

Cu‐Sn Biphasic Alloy Heterostructure With p‐d Orbital Hybridization for Efficient Electrosynthesis of Amino Acids

Jiahui Xian, Ruiqi Xiang, Shilin Bo, Kaixing Cai, Hongyi Li, Haixin Sun, Wenpei Liao, Qinghua Liu
article en

Abstract

ABSTRACT The electrocatalytic conversion of NO x species into amino acids is an attractive approach. However, significant challenges lie in the matching kinetics of C−N coupling and high selectivity for the target product. Herein, a Cu 3 Sn/Cu 6 Sn 5 biphasic alloy heterostructure (Cu‐Sn BAH) with p‐d orbital hybridization has been constructed by phase control engineering for enhanced amino acid electrosynthesis, delivering a remarkable glycine Faradaic efficiency of 80% and a selectivity of 93% at −0.8 V vs. RHE. Experimental and mechanistic studies reveal that the strong p‐d orbital hybridization between d ‐block Cu and p ‐block Sn effectively modulates interfacial electronic structure between Cu 3 Sn and Cu 6 Sn 5 biphasic alloys, promoting the electron transfer and optimizing the adsorption of NO 3– and glyoxylic acid, and thus facilitating the generation of *NH 2 OH with reduced energy barriers and subsequent oxime hydrogenation. This work offers a distinctive electrocatalyst design strategy for highly selective amino acid synthesis via orbital engineering and heterostructure construction, and also encourages the development of C−N coupling systems.

Angewandte Chemie
Agency for Science, Technology and Research (SG), University of Science and Technology of China (CN), Sun Yat-sen University (CN), Institute of Molecular Functional Materials (CN), Singapore Institute for Clinical Sciences (SG), National Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory (CN)
Affordable and clean energy
Openalex Percentile: Top 7%
Ammonia Synthesis and Nitrogen Reduction
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