Selective CO₂ Electroreduction from Tuneable Naphthalene-Based Porous Polyimide Networks

A series of porous polyimides (pPIs) are synthesized, and their surface areas and pore sizes are optimized by the previously reported Bristol-X'an-Jiatong (BXJ) approach. How this approach can be used to tune and optimize the porous network properties to target and tune their ability to capture CO₂ is demonstrated. Once optimized, these porous organic frameworks are utilized, for the first time, as electrocatalysts for the conversion of CO₂ . The excellent Faradaic efficiencies (FEs) for the conversion of CO₂ to formate (91%) and methanol (85%) present exciting opportunities for the metal-free generation of useful fuels and feedstocks from CO₂ . In addition, the ability to directly address and select the conversion products through tuning of the porous materials' properties highlights the potential of this approach, and more generally for a wide range of organic frameworks as future metal-free CO₂ reduction catalysts.