Selective Electrocatalyzed Reduction of CO2 to Formate by Mononuclear Mo(Diimine)(CO)4 Complexes

Electrochemical conversion of CO2 to value-added products is an attractive approach to mitigating environmental impacts caused by human consumption of fossil fuels. While many molecular complexes have shown excellent selectivity in reducing CO2 to CO, herein we report on mononuclear Mo(Diimine)(CO)(4) complexes that can electrocatalyze CO2 reduction to formate with high selectivity. By increasing conjugation size of the diimine ligands we achieved a faradaic efficiency of 93 (& PLUSMN;5) % with an overpotential of 0.2 V.

Automated summary

Electrochemical conversion of CO2 to value-added products is an attractive method to mitigate the environmental impacts of fossil fuel consumption. By increasing the conjugation size of diimine ligands, mononuclear Mo(Diimine)(CO)(4) complexes were able to electrocatalyze the reduction of CO2 to formate with a high selectivity of 93 (& PLUSMN;5) % and an overpotential of 0.2 V.