What Fluorine Can Do in CO2 Chemistry: Applications from Homogeneous to Heterogeneous Systems.

Abstract

CO2 chemistry including capture and fixation has attracted great attention towards the aim of reducing the consumption of fossil fuels and CO2 accumulation in the atmosphere. "CO2 -philic" materials are required to achieve good performance owing to the intrinsic properties of the CO2 molecule, that is, thermodynamic stability and kinetic inertness. In this respect, fluorinated materials have been deployed in CO2 capture (physical and chemical pathway) or fixation (thermo- and electrocatalytic procedure) with good performances, including homogeneous (e. g., ionic liquids and small organic molecules) and heterogeneous counterparts (e. g., carbons, porous organic polymers, covalent triazine frameworks, metal-organic frameworks, and membranes). In this Minireview, these works are summarized and analyzed from the aspects of (1) the strategy used for fluorine introduction, (2) characterization of the targeted materials, (3) performance of the fluorinated systems in CO2 chemistry, and comparison with the nonfluorinated counterparts, (4) the role of fluorinated functionalities in the working procedure, and (5) the relationship between performance and structural/electronic properties of the materials. The systematic summary in this Minireview will open new opportunities in guiding the design of "CO2 -philic" materials and pave the way to stimulate further progress in this field.