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Updated: Mar 17, 2026

CO2 Photoreduction to CH4 Performance Under Concentrating Solar Light
Published on: June 12, 2019
Highly Efficient and Selective Photocatalytic CO2 Reduction by Iron and Cobalt Quaterpyridine Complexes
Zhenguo Guo1, Siwei Cheng1,2, Claudio Cometto3
1Department of Biology and Chemistry, Institute of Molecular Functional Materials, and State Key Laboratory in Marine Pollution, City University of Hong Kong , Tat Chee Avenue, Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong, China.
Abstract:
The design of highly efficient and selective photocatalytic systems for CO2 reduction that are based on nonexpensive materials is a great challenge for chemists. The photocatalytic reduction of CO2 by [Co(qpy)(OH2)2](2+) (1) (qpy = 2,2':6',2″:6″,2‴-quaterpyridine) and [Fe(qpy)(OH2)2](2+) (2) have been investigated. With Ru(bpy)3(2+) as the photosensitizer and 1,3-dimethyl-2-phenyl-2,3-dihydro-1H-benzo[d]imidazole as the sacrificial reductant in CH3CN/triethanolamine solution under visible-light excitation (blue light-emitting diode), a turnover number (TON) for CO as high as 2660 with 98% selectivity can be achieved for the cobalt catalyst. In the case of the iron catalyst, the TON was >3000 with up to 95% selectivity. More significantly, when Ru(bpy)3(2+) was replaced by the organic dye sensitizer purpurin, TONs of 790 and 1365 were achieved in N,N-dimethylformamide for the cobalt and iron catalysts, respectively.
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