Synergistic treatment of carbon dioxide and nitrogen-containing wastewater by electrochemical C-N coupling
Ye Ye,
Zhe Li,
Shichao Ding,
Jiaju Fu,
Hongzhi Liu,
Wenlei Zhu
Affiliations
Ye Ye
Sino-Japan Friendship Center for Environmental Protection, Beijing 100029, People’s Republic of China
Zhe Li
State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, State Key Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry for Life Science, the Frontiers Science Center for Critical Earth Material Cycling, School of the Environment, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023, People’s Republic of China
Shichao Ding
School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, Washington State University, Pullman, WA 99164, USA
Jiaju Fu
State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, State Key Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry for Life Science, the Frontiers Science Center for Critical Earth Material Cycling, School of the Environment, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023, People’s Republic of China; Corresponding author
Hongzhi Liu
International Ecological Economy Promotion Association, Beijing 100005, People’s Republic of China; Corresponding author
Wenlei Zhu
State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, State Key Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry for Life Science, the Frontiers Science Center for Critical Earth Material Cycling, School of the Environment, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023, People’s Republic of China; Corresponding author
Summary: Electrocatalytic CO2 reduction technology has been considered a promising approach to alleviate the severe environmental and energy issues caused by the anthropogenic over-emission of CO2. Coupling CO2 reduction with nitrogen (N)-pollutants reduction from wastewater to produce higher valued products (e.g., urea, amide, amine, etc.) could significantly extend the application scenarios and product categories of CO2 reduction technologies. This paper investigates the available CO2 and N-pollutants sources and summarizes the recent progress of electrocatalytic C-N coupling reactions. Based on the fundamental research, technical concerns for scale-up applications of C-N coupling electrocatalysis are thoroughly discussed. Finally, we prospect the opportunities and challenges with an in-depth understanding of the underlying dominant factors in applying C-N coupling electrocatalysis. Further development in recycling CO2 and N pollutants via the electrocatalytic C-N coupling process is also discussed.
