N, O-coordinated Zn-MOFs for selective conversion of CO2 to formate

Abstract

Electrochemical reduction of CO2 to formate by metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) is one of the promising routes to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions in the energy conversion field. Herein, two new N,O-coordinated Zn-MOFs (FJU-127-CH3 and FJU-127-NH2) were constructed from 3-amino-1,2,4-triazole (ATRZ) with 2-methyl-terephthalic acid (BDC-CH3) or 2-amino-terephthalic acid (BDC-NH2) for electrochemical CO2 reduction reaction (CO2RR). Different from all the reported N- or O-coordinated Zn-MOFs catalysts with the main product of CO or CH4, the two N,O-coordinated Zn-MOFs exhibit specific selectivity and activity for formate with faradaic efficiency (FE) more than 60%. Especially, self-penetration FJU-127-CH3 possesses superior FEformate of 90.2% at −1.57 V vs. RHE in comparison with common pillared-layer FJU-127-NH2. This work proposes an effective strategy to alter the selectivity of electrocatalytic CO2RR.