Screening Efficient C-N Coupling Catalysts for Electrosynthesis of Acetamide and Output Ammonia through a Cascade Strategy of Electrochemical CO2 and N2 Reduction Using Cu-Based Nitrogen-Carbon Nanosheets

Due to the limitation of the high-value-added products obtained from electrocatalytic CO2 reduction within an acid environment, introducing additional elements can expand the diversity of the products obtained during the CO2 reduction reaction (CO2RR) and nitrogen reduction reaction (NRR). Thus, coelectroreduction of CO2 and N2 is a new strategy for producing acetamide (CH3CONH2) via both C-C and C-N bond coupling using Cu-based nitrogen-carbon nanosheets. CO2 can reduce to CO, and a key ketene (*C═C═O) can be generated from *CO*CO dimerization; this ketene is postulated as an intermediate in the formation of acetamide. However, most studies focus on promoting the C-C bond formation. Here, we propose that C-N bond coupling can form acetamide through the interaction of *C═C═O with NH3. The acetamide is formed via a nucleophilic attack between *NH3 and the *C═C═O intermediate. The C-N coupling mechanism was successfully applied to expand the variety of nitrogen-containing products obtained from CO2 and N2 coreduction. Thus, we successfully screened Cu2-based graphite and Cu-based C3N4 as catalysts that can produce C2+ compounds by integrating CO dimerization with acetamide synthesis. In addition, we observed that Cu2-based C2N and Cu-based C3N4 catalysts are suitable for the NRR. Cu-based C3N4 showed high CO2RR and NRR activities with small negative limiting potential (UL) values of -0.83 and -0.58 V compared to those of other candidates, respectively. The formation of *COHCOH from *COHCO was considered the rate-determining step (RDS) during acetamide electrosynthesis. The limiting potential value of Cu2-based C2N was only -0.46 V for NH3 synthesis, and the formation of *NNH was via the RDS via an alternating path. The adsorption energy difference analysis both CO2 and N2 compare with the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), suggesting that Cu2-based C2N exhibited the highest CO2RR and NRR selectivity among the 13 analyzed catalysts. The results of this study provide innovative insights into the design principle of Cu-based nitrogen-carbon electrocatalysts for generating highly efficient C-N coupling products.