Atomically Dispersed Cu on InO for Relay Electrocatalytic Conversion of Nitrate and CO to Urea.

Urea electrosynthesis from coelectrolysis of NO and CO (UENC) holds a significant prospect to achieve efficient and sustainable urea production. Herein, atomically dispersed Cu on InO (Cu/InO) is designed as an effective and robust catalyst for the UENC. Combined theoretical calculations and in situ spectroscopic analysis reveal the synergistic effect of the Cu-O-In site and the In site to boost the UENC energetics via a relay catalysis pathway, where the Cu-O-In site drives *NO → *NH and the In site catalyzes *CO → *CO. The generated *CO is then migrated from the In site to the Cu-O-In site, followed by C-N coupling with *NH on the Cu-O-In site to generate urea. Consequently, Cu/InO assembled within a flow cell exhibits an impressive urea yield rate of 28.97 mmol h g with a urea-Faradaic efficiency (FE) of 50.88%.