Related Experiment Video
Updated: Feb 3, 2026

A Microwave-Assisted Direct Heteroarylation of Ketones Using Transition Metal Catalysis
Published on: February 16, 2020
Dinuclear Metal Synergistic Catalysis Boosts Photochemical CO2 -to-CO Conversion
Ting Ouyang1,2, Hong-Juan Wang1, Hai-Hua Huang3
1Institute for New Energy Materials and Low Carbon Technologies, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tianjin University of Technology, Tianjin, 300384, China.
Abstract:
The solar-driven CO2 reduction is a challenge in the field of "artificial photosynthesis", as most catalysts display low activity and selectivity for CO2 reduction in water-containing reaction systems as a result of competitive proton reduction. Herein, we report a dinuclear heterometallic complex, [CoZn(OH)L1 ](ClO4 )3 (CoZn), which shows extremely high photocatalytic activity and selectivity for CO2 reduction in water/acetonitrile solution. It achieves a selectivity of 98 % for CO2 -to-CO conversion, with TON and TOF values of 65000 and 1.8 s-1 , respectively, 4, 19, and 45-fold higher than the values of corresponding dinuclear homometallic [CoCo(OH)L1 ](ClO4 )3 (CoCo), [ZnZn(OH)L1 ](ClO4 )3 (ZnZn), and mononuclear [CoL2 (CH3 CN)](ClO4 )2 (Co), respectively, under the same conditions. The increased photocatalytic performance of CoZn is due to the enhanced dinuclear metal synergistic catalysis (DMSC) effect between ZnII and CoII , which dramatically lowers the activation barriers of both transition states of CO2 reduction.
Related Concept Videos
Catalysis
Gene Conversion
Gene Conversion
Bonding in Metals
Metallic Solids
All metallic solids exhibit high thermal and electrical conductivity, metallic luster, and malleability....
Alkali Metals
Table 1: Properties of the alkali metals

