Development of soluble UiO-66 to improve photocatalytic CO2 reduction

The conversion of CO2 to valuable chemicals by photocatalysis has attracted widespread interesting. Owing to the linear structure of CO2 molecule with strong C--O bond, the surface reaction is considered as one of the main issues to restrict the conversion efficiency. Herein, soluble UiO-66 has been developed as co-catalyst to enhance the photocatalytic performance for CO2 reduction. The soluble UiO-66 has presented the performance ca. 1.5 higher than the insoluble version, yielding 30.6 mu mol/h for CO2 to CO conversion by using 5.0 mg sample. This improvement can be attributed to the preserved framework by soluble UiO-66. Therefore, the chemisorption of CO2 molecules can be improved, boosting the reduction reaction for CO production. This research provides a new path for a rational design of metal-organic framework (MOF) for photoredox catalysis, meanwhile inspiring advanced application of MOF catalysis with the soluble manner.

Automated summary

Soluble UiO-66 has been developed as a co-catalyst to enhance the photocatalytic performance for CO2 reduction, resulting in a 1.5-fold increase in CO2 to CO conversion efficiency.