A group of researchers from Chinese Academy of Sciences led by Prof. Wang Ruihu from Fujian Institute of Research on the Structure of Matter (FJIRSM) have presented demonstration of how covalent organic frameworks (COFs) can be used heterocatalysts for photocatalytic CO2 reduction. The study has been published in Advanced Functional Material. The researchers hosted metalloporphyrin-based carbon dots (M-PCD@TD-COF, M = Ni, Co and Fe) for selective CO2 photoreduction.
The researchers developed a simple but effective protocol for rational design of COFs-based photocatalytic systems. These materials are readily fabricated through facile adsorption of molecular catalysts by COFs and subsequent pyrolysis. The method effectively solves problems of COFs in terms of crystalline difficulties and the limited metal-containing building blocks, which enriches the number of COFs-based catalytic materials. The importance of this protocol was highlighted by the enhanced activity of CO2-to-CO conversion. COFs provide an environment for CO2 adsorption and activation on metalloporphyrin active sites, thus allowing for efficient CO2-to-CO conversion of both pure CO2 and the simulated flue gas. The method for photocatalytic CO2 reduction provides a direction for the development of photocatalytic materials. The protocol for the integration of COFs and carbon dots not only solves problems in COFs-based photocatalytic systems, but also could be extended to a broad range of materials consisting of various COFs and guest catalyst materials for solar energy conversion and other applications
