Visible-Light-Driven Solvent-Free Photocatalytic Co2 Reduction to Co by Co-Mof/Cu2o Heterojunction with Superior Selectivity

Abstract

It is highly desirable to discover MOFs matrix composites with controlled reduction selectivity in the general understanding of the CO 2 reduction reaction (CO 2 RR) in electro- and photocatalytic process. Herein, we demonstrate a facile strategy to prepare metal organic framework hybrid composites (xCMC) using the Co-based MOF [Co 2 (TMTA)(HCOO)(bidb)(H 2 O)]∙DMF (H 3 TMTA  = 1,3,5-trimethyl-2,4,6- tricarboxyl- phenylbenzene, bidb = 1,4-bis(1-imidazoly)benzene) and nanocrystalline cuprous oxide. The resulting hybrid catalyst with p-n heterojunction exhibits enhanced photocatalytic CO 2 reduction activity with remarkable production rate of 15.3 μmol g -1 4h -1 , ca. 9.6 times higher than that of pure Cu 2 O. Compared with other reaction route, the present photocatalytic reduction of CO 2 with superior selectivity to CO occurs in the interface of gas-solid reaction without any photosensitizer, and sacrificing reagent. In addition, the mechanism for photocatalytic CO 2 reduction is also well discussed. The present work highlights a facile way for constructing MOF-based photocatalyst with hetero-junction for visible-light-driven CO 2 reduction in gas-solid reaction route.

Keywords: Visible-light-driven, Photocatalytic CO2 reduction, Co-MOF, Cu2O, Heterojunction