Efficient urea electrosynthesis via coordination of the reaction rate of carbon dioxide and nitrate co‐reduction

Abstract The electrochemical co‐reduction of CO2 and NO3− to urea is an alternative to traditional urea synthesis. However, the significant difference in the energy barriers and reaction rates for CO2 and NO3− reduction restricts the efficiency of the CN coupling. Herein, we report a strategy to coordinate the CN coupling intermediates by unilaterally increasing the efficiency of CO2 reduction to match that of facile NO3− reduction. We demonstrate this strategy using an electrochemical reaction system consisting of a Cu2O‐loaded ordered gas‐diffusion electrode, which offers a high urea yield rate of 1373.5 μg h−1 mgcat.−1 at a low applied potential of −0.6 V versus RHE. This work not only provides a feasible strategy to coordinate the reductive coupling of CO2 and NO3−, but also brings new insight into the reaction mechanism of urea electrosynthesis.