Engineering Spin States of Isolated Copper Species in a Metal–Organic Framework Improves Urea Electrosynthesis

Abstract

Highlights The single-atom Cu species with S = 0 spin ground state in CuIII-HHTP have been fabricated. The CuIII-HHTP exhibits remarkable performance with a high urea yield of 7.780 mmol h−1 g−1 with the corresponding Faradaic efficiency of 23.09% at − 0.6 V (vs. RHE). Low spin state and empty ( $${d}_{{{\text{x}}^{2}\text{-y}}^{2}}^{0}$$ d x 2 -y 2 0 ) orbitals are favorable to enhance the production urea of C–N coupling process.

Keywords

• Electrocatalysis
• Urea synthesis
• Metal–organic framework
• Spin catalysis
• C–N coupling