Utilisation of carbon dioxide and nitrate for urea electrosynthesis with a Cu-based metal–organic framework

Abstract

It is important and challenging to utilise CO₂ and NO₃⁻ as a feedstock for electrosynthesis of urea. Herein, we reported a stable 2D metal–organic framework (MOF) Cu-HATNA, possessing planar CuO₄ active sites, as an efficient electrocatalyst for coupling CO₂ and NO₃⁻ into urea, achieving a high yield rate of 1.46 g h⁻¹ g_cat⁻¹ with a current density of 44.2 mA cm⁻¹ at −0.6 V vs. RHE. This performance surpasses most of the previously reported catalysts, revealing the great prospects of MOFs in sustainable urea synthesis.