Boosting Electrochemical Urea Synthesis via Constructing Ordered Pd–Zn Active Pair

Ordered intermetallic pallium-zinc (PdZn) electrocatalyst comprising a high density of PdZn pairs is synthesized for achieving co-adsorption and co-activation carbon dioxide and nitrate.Both operando measurements and theoretical calculations reveal that the PdZn pairs provide a dual-site geometric structure conducive to the key C–N coupling with a low kinetical barrier.The intermetallic PdZn displays excellent performance for the co-reduction of nitrate (NO3–) and carbon dioxide (CO2) toward urea, with a maximum FEureaof 62.78% at a small potential of – 0.4 V versus RHE.