Rational Construction of Metal Organic Framework Hybrid Assemblies for Visible Light-Driven CO₂ Conversion

Photocatalytic reduction of CO2 to value-added chemicals is known to be a promising approach for CO2 conversion. The design and preparation of ideal photocatalysts for CO2 conversion are of pivotal significance for the sustainable development of the whole society. In this work, we integrated two functional organic linkers to prepare a novel metal organic framework (MOF) photocatalyst {[Co(9,10-bis(4-pyridyl)anthracene)0.5(bpda)]·4DMF} (Co-MOF). The existence of anthryl and amino groups leads to a wide range of visible light absorption and efficient separation of photogenerated electrons. To extend the lifetime of photogenerated electrons in the photocatalytic system, we modified Co-MOF particles onto g-C3N4. As expected, Co-MOF/g-C3N4 composites exhibited an ultrahigh selectivity (more than 97%) in the photocatalytic process, and the highest CO production rate (1824 μmol/g/h) was 7.1 and 27.2 times of Co-MOFs and g-C3N4, respectively. What's more, we also discussed the reaction mechanism of the Co-MOF/g-C3N4 photocatalytic CO2 reduction, and this work paves the pathway for designing photocatalysts with ideal CO2 reduction performance.