Illuminating the mechanistic impacts of an Fe-quaterpyridine functionalized crystalline poly(triazine imide) semiconductor for photocatalytic CO₂ reduction

The strategy of incorporating earth-abundant catalytic centers into light-absorbing architectures is desirable from the viewpoint of low cost, low toxicity, and versatility for activating small molecules to produce solar-based fuels. Herein, we show that an Fe-quaterpyridine molecular catalyst can be anchored to a light-absorbing, crystalline, carbon nitride (PTI), to yield a molecular-catalyst/material hybrid, Fe-qpy-PTI, capable of facilitating CO₂ reduction to CO selectively (up to ∼97–98%) in aqueous solution under low-intensity light irradiation. This hybrid material leverages the ability of the Fe-qpy catalyst to bind CO₂ upon a one-electron reduction, as achieved by transfer of excited electrons from the carbon-nitride semiconductor. At a low incident power density of only 50 mW cm⁻², the catalytic activity of the hybrid material was measured across a range of catalyst loadings from 0.1–3.8 wt%, yielding CO rates of up to 596 μmol g⁻¹ h⁻¹ for a 3.8 wt% loading during a 3 h experiment. Over the course of 8 h, the hybrid material attained a CO evolution rate of 608 μmol g⁻¹ h⁻¹ and 305 turnovers for a TOF of ∼38 h⁻¹ and an apparent quantum yield of 2.6%. Higher light intensities provided an initial increase in activity but negatively impacted photocatalytic rates with time, with an AQY of 0.6% at 150 mW cm⁻² and 0.4% at 250 mW cm⁻². Transient absorption spectroscopy results showed electron survival probabilities consistent with the trends in observed product rates. Computational modeling was also used to evaluate and understand the mechanistic pathway of the high product selectivity for CO versus H₂. These results thus help unveil key factors for leveraging the mechanistic understanding of molecular catalysts for CO₂ reduction for pairing with light absorbing semiconductors and establishing optimal conditions to attain maximal rates in aqueous solution.

McGuigan, S.; Tereniak, S.; Smith, A.; Jana, S.; Donley, C. L.; Collins, L.; Ghorai, N.; Xu, Y.; Adu Fosu, E.; Suhr, S.; Margavio, H. R. M.; Yang, H.; Parsons, G.; Holland, P.; Jakubikova, E.; Lian, T.; Maggard, P. A. Illuminating the mechanistic impacts of an Fe-quaterpyridine functionalized crystalline poly(triazine imide) semiconductor for photocatalytic CO2 reduction, Inorg. Chem. Front., 2025, Advance Article. https://doi.org/10.1039/D5QI00859J