Engineering of covalent organic framework based hybrid photocatalysts for efficient CO2 to fuel conversion

The solar-driven photocatalytic conversion is regarded as one of the most promising approaches for carbon dioxide (CO2) transformation to tackle the rising issue of greenhouse gas emissions. However, due to the high C=O bond energy, more than one electron needs to be provided simultaneously after light illumination to enable the efficient catalytic reaction, which remains a constant challenge for conventional photocatalysts. Covalent organic frameworks (COFs) as an emerging nano-porous material exhibit significant potential to control the status (e.g., density, spatial location, lifetimes) of photo-excited electrons through their molecular structures. Therefore, the goal of this project is to anchor COFs with conventional photocatalytic molecules to establish hybrid catalysts. We expect to achieve efficient and stable multiple electron donation from those catalysts to boost CO2 reduction efficiency by engineering the COFs structure.