Photocatalytic CO₂ reduction with aminoanthraquinone organic dyes

The direct utilization of solar energy to convert CO₂ into renewable chemicals remains a challenge. One essential difficulty is the development of efficient and inexpensive light-absorbers. Here we show a series of aminoanthraquinone organic dyes to promote the efficiency for visible light-driven CO₂ reduction to CO when coupled with an Fe porphyrin catalyst. Importantly, high turnover numbers can be obtained for both the photosensitizer and the catalyst, which has not been achieved in current light-driven systems. Structure-function study performed with substituents having distinct electronic effects reveals that the built-in donor-acceptor property of the photosensitizer significantly promotes the photocatalytic activity. We anticipate this study gives insight into the continued development of advanced photocatalysts for solar energy conversion.