Acta Chimica Sinica ›› 2026, Vol. 84 ›› Issue (1): 73-85.DOI: 10.6023/A25040118 Previous Articles     Next Articles

Article

常温常压下N2、CO2和H2O体系TiO2机械化学合成尿素的实验与理论研究

楼一淳a, 何承溧a,b, 王霖锐a, 崔晓莉a,*()   

  1. a 复旦大学智能材料与未来能源创新学院 上海 200433
    b 中国科学院苏州纳米技术与纳米仿生研究所 苏州 215123
  • 投稿日期:2025-04-14 发布日期:2025-08-26

Mechanochemical Urea Synthesis Using Nitrogen, Water and Carbon Dioxide with TiO2 under Mild Conditions: An Experimental and Theoretical Study

Yichun Loua, Chengli Hea,b, Linrui Wanga, Xiaoli Cuia,*()   

  1. a College of Smart Materials and Future Energy, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China
    b Suzhou Institute of Nano-Tech and Nano-Bionics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Suzhou 215123, China
  • Received:2025-04-14 Published:2025-08-26
  • Contact: * E-mail: xiaolicui@fudan.edu.cn; Tel.: 13817061363

As an important chemical, urea has a wide range of applications. However, the conventional Bosch-Meiser process suffers from high energy consumption and substantial carbon emissions. This study proposes a novel mechanochemical strategy for urea synthesis under ambient temperature and pressure using N2, CO2, and H2O as feedstocks. Five transition metal oxide catalysts (TiO2, ZnO, Cu2O, Nb2O5, Fe2O3) were investigated for their mechanocatalytic effects in a ZrO2 jar equipped with ZrO2 balls, with TiO2 exhibiting the highest performance. Urea production rate was up to 133.59 μg•L-1•h-1 with the presence of TiO2, which is 2.2 times larger than that the catalyst-free conditions. TiO2 was characterized using transmission electron microscope (TEM), energy dispersive spectrometer (EDS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR), and Raman spectroscopy, revealing an increase in oxygen vacancies after the mechanochemical reaction. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) analysis was used to detect the adsorbed species on the TiO2 surface, providing mechanistic insights. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations identified H₂O dissociation and N2 activation as critical steps. The oxygen vacancies (Vo) in TiO2 not only enhanced the adsorption of N2 and H2O but also facilitated H2O dissociation to release free H atoms and weakened the N≡N bond. Both the H2O dissociation and the C—N coupling between *N2 and *CO were determined to be the rate-limiting step in urea formation. This study presents a green and energy-efficient mechanochemical approach for urea synthesis and elucidates the catalytic role of titanium dioxides in the process.

Key words: urea synthesis, mechanochemistry, TiO2 catalyst, N2 activation, density functional theory