Related Experiment Video
Updated: Dec 15, 2025

06:53
Author Spotlight: Magnetometric Characterization of Intermediates in the Solid-State Electrochemistry of Redox-Active Metal-Organic Frameworks
Published on: June 9, 2023
2.5K
Induced CO2 Electroreduction to Formic Acid on Metal-Organic Frameworks via Node Doping.
Wenhao Geng1,2, Wei Chen1, Guihua Li1
1CAS Key Laboratory of Low-Carbon Conversion Science and Engineering Shanghai Advanced Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 100 Haike Road, Shanghai, 201210, P.R. China.
Chemsuschem
|July 12, 2020
Summary
Doping metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) with tin nodes enhances their performance in the electroreduction of carbon dioxide (CO2) to formic acid. This strategy improves catalytic activity and efficiency for CO2 conversion.
Area of Science:
- Materials Science
- Electrochemistry
- Catalysis
Background:
- Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are investigated for CO2 electroreduction reaction (CO2 ERR) due to their combined heterogeneous and homogeneous catalytic properties.
- Limitations in MOFs for CO2 ERR include suboptimal metal nodes, leading to low faradaic efficiencies (FEs) and current densities.
- Node doping presents a novel strategy to enhance MOF catalytic activity.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop a general strategy for improving MOF activity in CO2 ERR through node doping.
- To investigate the effect of doping tin (Sn) nodes into zeolitic imidazolate framework-8 (ZIF-8) for CO2 electroreduction.
- To evaluate the catalytic performance and stability of Sn-doped ZIF-8 for formic acid production.
Main Methods:
- Employing ion exchange to introduce active tin nodes into the ZIF-8 structure.
- Performing CO2 electroreduction reaction (CO2 ERR) using pristine and Sn-doped ZIF-8 catalysts.
- Characterizing catalytic performance by measuring faradaic efficiencies (FEs) and current densities at a specific potential (-1.1 V vs. RHE).
- Assessing catalyst stability through multiple reuse cycles.
Main Results:
- The Sn-doped ZIF-8 catalyst achieved a record high formic acid (HCOOH) FE of 74% and a total current density (Jtotal) of 27 mA/cm2 at -1.1 V vs. RHE.
- The Sn2+ nodes accelerated CO2 reduction kinetics, facilitating efficient HCOOH formation.
- The doped MOF exhibited stable catalytic performance over seven reuse cycles, significantly outperforming pristine ZIF-8 (0% HCOOH FE, 13 mA/cm2 Jtotal).
Conclusions:
- Node doping is an effective general strategy to enhance the CO2 electroreduction reaction (CO2 ERR) performance of MOFs.
- The introduction of Sn nodes into ZIF-8 significantly boosts catalytic activity and selectivity towards formic acid production.
- This research opens new avenues for designing advanced MOF catalysts for efficient CO2 conversion.

