Recent progress in electrocatalytic C-N coupling of CO2 and inorganic N-containing small molecules

The conversion and utilization of carbon dioxide (CO2) is one of the central topics in the energy and environmental research community. The development of electrocatalytic CO2 reduction technology is expected to bring more economic and environmental benefits to the carbon-neutral policy. Although researchers have conducted extensive and in-depth studies on the electrocatalytic CO2 reduction to derive diverse carbonaceous products such as C1 and C2+, the introduction of inorganic nitrogenous molecules in the electrocatalytic CO2 reduction can further expand the production of more valuable C-N bond-containing chemicals, such as amides, amines, and urea. This review focuses on the research progress in the electrochemical C-N coupling of CO2 with diverse nitrogenous small molecules (NH3, N2, NO, NO2-, and NO3-) in aqueous solution. The C-N coupling mechanisms and electrocatalytic performance of catalysts towards different products have been discussed in depth from both computational and experimental aspects. On this basis, the research directions and prospects in this field are proposed, aiming to provide valuable insights into future research on electrocatalytic C-N coupling.