Tailored coordination environment of cobalt-zinc bimetallic MOFs for efficient photocatalytic carbon dioxide reduction

The direct conversion of photocatalytic CO 2 reduction under moderate circumstances has emerged as an advanced method of mitigating greenhouse effect and energy crisis. The rationally modified approaches of MOFs at atomic scale offers opportunities for promoting stability and activity. In this work, we synthesized a series of Co Zn bimetallic MOFs photocatalysts through a dual-metal site (cobalt and zinc) strategy, achieving the regulated coordination of metal atoms to efficiently balance the behaviors of photogenerated charge separation, structural stability and reaction kinetics. The synergistic effect was ensured by the isostructural nature of Co-tz and Zn-tz, thereby exhibiting remarkably promoted photocatalytic performance in carbon reduction rates. The optimized CoZn-tz (1:1) catalyst exhibits exceptional catalytic performance in converting carbon dioxide to CO under 300 W xenon lamp, achieving a conversion yield of 7.3 μmol/g/h with no liquid-phase by-products outperforms monometallic analogues. This study emphasizes valuable insights into synergistic interplay of solid-solution bimetallic architecture, paving the rational design of MOFs-based photocatalysts towards highly efficiency in CO 2 reduction.