Proton‐Coupling Electron Transfer Kinetics Modulation via Substitution Isomerism of Amino Groups in MOFs to Switch CO <sub>2</sub> Photoreduction Pathways from HCOOH to CH <sub>3</sub> COOH
Selective photoreduction of CO<sub>2</sub> into high-value C2 products is highly desirable but challenging due to the high-energy-barrier C-C coupling and sluggish proton-coupling electron transfers (PCET). Herein, CsPbBr<sub>3</sub> (CPB) quantum dots are in-situ encapsulated within amino-functionalized Fe/UiO-67-X (X = meta-NH<sub>2</sub>, ortho-NH<sub>2</sub>, ortho-2NH<sub>2</sub>) frameworks for efficient CO<sub>2</sub> photoreduction. X-ray absorption spectroscopy confirms the presence of charge-asymmetrical ZrFe sites that promote C-C coupling and the covalently-connected Pb-N electron-transfer "bridge" that enhances carrier kinetics. Notably, the o-2NH<sub>2</sub>-functionalized CPB@Fe/UiO-67-o-2NH<sub>2</sub> achieves a CH<sub>3</sub>COOH productivity of 257.22 µmol·g<sup>-1</sup>·h<sup>-1</sup> with 98.72% selectivity, whereas the m-NH<sub>2</sub>-substituted analog (CPB@Fe/UiO-67-m-NH<sub>2</sub>) exclusively produces HCOOH. Comprehensive analyses demonstrate that the o-NH<sub>2</sub> groups facilitate ultrafast electron transfer via a near Pb-N bridge and organize interfacial H<sub>2</sub>O into proton-conducting networks to ensure synchronized proton-supply. In-situ DRIFT and DFT calculations confirm that the o-NH<sub>2</sub>-induced rapid PCETdrives the conversion of <sup>*</sup>COOH at Zr sites to <sup>*</sup>CO, which subsequently couples with stabilized <sup>*</sup>COOH at Fe sites to form the critical <sup>*</sup>OC-COOH with the lowest energy barrier compared to <sup>*</sup>HOOC-COOH or <sup>*</sup>OC-CO pathways. This work establishes a design paradigm that necessitates the "temporal alignment" and "spatial coupling" of H⁺ and e<sup>-</sup> at active sites for achieving high-performance CO<sub>2</sub>-to-C2 photoreduction by modulating interfacial electron-proton dynamics through simple group isomerism.
Authors
- Ren Ma
- Zhengqiang Xia (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9342-8422)
- Qibin Yang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3542-077X)
- Sanping Chen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6851-7386)
- Gang Xie (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8133-2426)
- Xia Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0085-2989)
- Yi-Xia Ren
Institutions
- Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China (CN)
- Xi'an Shiyou University (CN)
- Northwest University (CN)
- Yan'an University (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Advanced Materials
- Published
- 2025-09-25
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.202512480
- Citations
- 8
- Primary Topic
- Advanced Photocatalysis Techniques
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 2.91