{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,9]],"date-time":"2026-09-09T15:02:08Z","timestamp":1788966128072,"version":"build-2803163510"},"reference-count":43,"publisher":"American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)","issue":"22","funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/100007567","name":"City University of Hong Kong","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["9020005, 9610663, 7020103"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["9020005, 9610663, 7020103"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100007567","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"name":"ITF-RTH-Global STEM Professorship","award":["9446008"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["9446008"]}]},{"name":"General Research Fund from the Research Grants Council of Hong Kong SAR","award":["9043720"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["9043720"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["www.science.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Sci. Adv."],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,29]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>\n                    The electrochemical synthesis of urea from carbon dioxide (CO\n                    <jats:sub>2<\/jats:sub>\n                    ) and nitrate (NO\n                    <jats:sub>3<\/jats:sub>\n                    <jats:sup>\u2212<\/jats:sup>\n                    ) is a sustainable route yet remains challenging, primarily due to slow carbon-nitrogen (C\u2500N) coupling and competing ammonia (NH\n                    <jats:sub>3<\/jats:sub>\n                    ) formation. Here, we demonstrate highly selective synthesis by modulating nitric oxide (NO) intermediate behavior on molybdenum-manganese (Mo\u2500Mn) diatomic sites. The high NO surface coverage and strong binding energy promote a NO dimerization pathway to form N\u2500N, which subsequently allows for efficient carbon monoxide (CO) insertion to form urea. This mechanism achieves 93.3% N selectivity toward urea, with a high yield rate of 35.16 millimoles per hour per gram and a faradaic efficiency of 48.1% at \u22120.6 volts versus reversible hydrogen electrode, while effectively suppressing NH\n                    <jats:sub>3<\/jats:sub>\n                    by-product formation. Conversely, dual sites like copper-manganese (Cu\u2500Mn) exhibit weak NO adsorption and low coverage, which suppress dimerization and favor the conventional pathway via NHCO intermediates, leading to predominant NH\n                    <jats:sub>3<\/jats:sub>\n                    formation (86.2% N selectivity). This work establishes a NO-mediated strategy for efficient urea synthesis with minimized competing reactions.\n                  <\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1126\/sciadv.aeg9844","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,29]],"date-time":"2026-05-29T18:00:46Z","timestamp":1780077646000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.34133\/aaas_crossmark","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":2,"title":["Promoting direct C\u2500N coupling via NO intermediate modulation for highly selective electrochemical urea synthesis"],"prefix":"10.1126","volume":"12","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5385-8113","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Xiaoran","family":"Zhang","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Chemistry, City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon, 999077 Hong Kong SAR, P. R. China."}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2341-2422","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Zhangsheng","family":"Shi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Chemistry, City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon, 999077 Hong Kong SAR, P. R. China."}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3912-9704","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Yunpeng","family":"Zuo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Chemistry, City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon, 999077 Hong Kong SAR, P. R. China."}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Dongxue","family":"Yu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Chemistry, City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon, 999077 Hong Kong SAR, P. R. China."}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8359-4438","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Qun","family":"He","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Chemistry, City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon, 999077 Hong Kong SAR, P. R. China."}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5006-8455","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Libo","family":"Sun","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Chemistry, City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon, 999077 Hong Kong SAR, P. R. China."}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7751-7858","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Wanfeng","family":"Yang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Chemistry, City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon, 999077 Hong Kong SAR, P. R. China."}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4308-5027","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Jieqiong","family":"Shan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Chemistry, City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon, 999077 Hong Kong SAR, P. R. China."}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2686-466X","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Xin","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Chemistry, City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon, 999077 Hong Kong SAR, P. R. 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