Although Cu possesses many unique advantages for electrocatalytic CO2 reduction reaction (CO2RR), it is not suitable for electrosynthesis of urea from CO2 and NO3− because of high energy barriers for the formation of *COOH and *CO intermediates and C–N bonds. Herein, Cr2O3 nanoparticle (NP)/Cu nanosheet (NS) heterojunction electrocatalysts are reported for highly efficient electrocatalytic co-reduction of CO2 and NO3− toward urea production. The strongly coupled heterostructure interface between Cr2O3 NPs and Cu NSs exhibits synergistic effect and optimizes the adsorption of intermediates. The resultant heterojunction electrocatalysts could achieve a high urea Faradaic efficiency (FEurea) of 62% at an ultralow applied potential of 0 V vs. reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE), which is among the best results reported to date. Moreover, the electrocatalysts showed good recycling stability. The in-situ Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and density functional theory (DFT) calculations revealed that the Cr2O3 NPs/Cu NSs heterostructure could not only reduce formation energy barriers of *COOH and *CO intermediates but also promote the coupling of *CO and *NH2 to form C–N bonds, leading to a high FEurea. This study demonstrates a heterojunction engineering strategy for the rational design of high-performance Cu-based electrocatalysts for urea generation.
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Nano Research 2025, 18(10): 94907989
Published: 29 September 2025
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