ZIF-L-derived ZnO/N-doped carbon with multiple active sites for efficient catalytic CO2 cycloaddition

Integration of Lewis acid and base sites and oxygen surface groups in one catalyst is favorable to promote CO 2 cycloaddition reaction. Here, Zn-ZIF-L was used as starting material to design one kind of catalyst with multiple active sites via pyrolysis and oxidization treatment. The well-dispersed ZnO nanoparticles and pyridinic nitrogen in nitrogen-doped carbon serve as Lewis acid and base sites to activate epoxide and CO 2 while oxygen surface groups help promote the ring-opening reaction of epoxides. Results show that Zn-ZIF-L derived catalyst displays high catalytic activities for CO 2 cycloaddition (6 h, 83% of yield) under mild conditions (70 °C and 0.1 MPa CO 2 ) and outperforms ZIF-8 derived catalyst. Moreover, the obtained catalyst also achieves a satisfactory photothermal catalysis of cycloaddition reaction under light irradiation (120 mW/cm 2 ), which makes our sample a promising catalyst for CO 2 conversion.