Volume 134, Issue 14 e202117530
Zuschrift

Dissection of Light-Induced Charge Accumulation at a Highly Active Iron Porphyrin: Insights in the Photocatalytic CO2 Reduction

Eva Pugliese

Eva Pugliese

Université Paris-Saclay, CNRS, Institut de chimie moléculaire et des matériaux d'Orsay, 91405 Orsay, France

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Dr. Philipp Gotico

Dr. Philipp Gotico

Université Paris-Saclay, CNRS, Institut des Sciences Moléculaires d'Orsay (ISMO), 91405 Orsay, France

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Iris Wehrung

Iris Wehrung

Université Paris-Saclay, CNRS, Institut de chimie moléculaire et des matériaux d'Orsay, 91405 Orsay, France

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Dr. Bernard Boitrel

Dr. Bernard Boitrel

Institut des Sciences Chimiques de Rennes (ISCR), Université Rennes 1, 35042 Rennes, France

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Dr. Annamaria Quaranta

Dr. Annamaria Quaranta

Institute for Integrative Biology of the Cell (I2BC), CEA, CNRS, Université Paris-Saclay, 91198 Gif-sur-Yvette, France

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Dr. Minh-Huong Ha-Thi

Dr. Minh-Huong Ha-Thi

Université Paris-Saclay, CNRS, Institut des Sciences Moléculaires d'Orsay (ISMO), 91405 Orsay, France

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Dr. Thomas Pino

Dr. Thomas Pino

Université Paris-Saclay, CNRS, Institut des Sciences Moléculaires d'Orsay (ISMO), 91405 Orsay, France

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Dr. Marie Sircoglou

Dr. Marie Sircoglou

Université Paris-Saclay, CNRS, Institut de chimie moléculaire et des matériaux d'Orsay, 91405 Orsay, France

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Dr. Winfried Leibl

Dr. Winfried Leibl

Institute for Integrative Biology of the Cell (I2BC), CEA, CNRS, Université Paris-Saclay, 91198 Gif-sur-Yvette, France

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Dr. Zakaria Halime

Corresponding Author

Dr. Zakaria Halime

Université Paris-Saclay, CNRS, Institut de chimie moléculaire et des matériaux d'Orsay, 91405 Orsay, France

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Prof. Ally Aukauloo

Corresponding Author

Prof. Ally Aukauloo

Université Paris-Saclay, CNRS, Institut de chimie moléculaire et des matériaux d'Orsay, 91405 Orsay, France

Institute for Integrative Biology of the Cell (I2BC), CEA, CNRS, Université Paris-Saclay, 91198 Gif-sur-Yvette, France

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First published: 26 January 2022
Citations: 2

Abstract

Iron porphyrins are among the best molecular catalysts for the electrocatalytic CO2 reduction reaction. Powering these catalysts with the help of photosensitizers comes along with a couple of unsolved challenges that need to be addressed with much vigor. We have designed an iron porphyrin catalyst decorated with urea functions (UrFe) acting as a multipoint hydrogen bonding scaffold towards the CO2 substrate. We found a spectacular photocatalytic activity reaching unreported TONs and TOFs as high as 7270 and 3720 h−1, respectively. While the Fe0 redox state has been widely accepted as the catalytically active species, we show here that the FeI species is already involved in the CO2 activation, which represents the rate-determining step in the photocatalytic cycle. The urea functions help to dock the CO2 upon photocatalysis. DFT calculations bring support to our experimental findings that constitute a new paradigm in the catalytic reduction of CO2.

Data Availability Statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available in the Supporting Information of this article.

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