Efficient Urea Electrosynthesis from Nitrite and CO Reduction on Single W Atom Catalyst

Electroreduction of CO and NO to urea (ECNU) provides a fascinating method for concurrently migrating polluted NO and producing value-added urea. In this study, atomically dispersed W on MoS (W/MoS) is designed as an efficient ECNU catalyst, which exhibits the highest Faraday efficiency of 60.11 % and urea yield rate of 35.80 mmol h g in flow cell. Atomic characterizations reveal that W single atoms exist as isolated W-S moieties on MoS. Combined theoretical calculations and operando spectroscopic measurements demonstrate that the enhanced ECNU performance of W/MoS arises from the construction of W-S moieties that can promote CN coupling and hydrogenation energetics, whilst suppressing the competing side reactions.