Internal Electric Field‐Regulated Dual‐Site Fe–Re Supramolecular Assembly for Photocatalytic CO 2 Reduction Toward Multicarbon Products

ABSTRACT Photocatalytic CO 2 reduction to multicarbon products remains challenging because C–C coupling is kinetically demanding and often limited by inefficient charge separation and poor control over reaction intermediates. Herein, a heterobimetallic supramolecular catalyst (Fe–Re SA) is constructed via electrostatic self‐assembly between a porphyrinic FeTCPP unit and a molecular Rebpy complex. Structural and spectroscopic analyses confirm that the Fe–N 4 and Re(I) carbonyl coordination environments remain preserved after assembly, while density functional theory (DFT)‐supported interfacial charge redistribution induces an internal electric field that promotes directional charge transfer and suppresses carrier recombination. In situ diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy (DRIFTS) reveals * CO‐related and C–C coupling‐related features, supporting a tandem catalytic mechanism in which the Re site catalyzes CO generation and the Fe‐centered porphyrin promotes subsequent C–C coupling. As a result, Fe–Re SA exhibits enhanced photocatalytic CO 2 reduction toward multicarbon products, achieving a C 2 H 4 formation rate of 4967 µmol g −1 h −1 with a total C 2 selectivity of 57.2% (C 2 H 4 selectivity of 47.5%) among carbon‐containing products. The catalyst also maintains decent activity under low CO 2 concentration (3% CO 2 in Ar) and under natural sunlight irradiation, highlighting its potential for practical solar‐driven CO 2 conversion.

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Small
Published
2026-10-04
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1002/smll.76055
Primary Topic
Advanced Photocatalysis Techniques
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
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article

Internal Electric Field‐Regulated Dual‐Site Fe–Re Supramolecular Assembly for Photocatalytic CO 2 Reduction Toward Multicarbon Products

Kefan Zhang, Cui Xu, Junye Cheng, Hui‐Qing Peng et al.
Small
Advanced Photocatalysis Techniques
article

Internal Electric Field‐Regulated Dual‐Site Fe–Re Supramolecular Assembly for Photocatalytic CO 2 Reduction Toward Multicarbon Products

Kefan Zhang, Cui Xu, Junye Cheng, Hui‐Qing Peng, Bin Liu, Kui Zhang, Xianjun Yin, Zenghe Li, Mengyang Zhang, Yu Kong, Yajia Tian
article en

Abstract

ABSTRACT Photocatalytic CO 2 reduction to multicarbon products remains challenging because C–C coupling is kinetically demanding and often limited by inefficient charge separation and poor control over reaction intermediates. Herein, a heterobimetallic supramolecular catalyst (Fe–Re SA) is constructed via electrostatic self‐assembly between a porphyrinic FeTCPP unit and a molecular Rebpy complex. Structural and spectroscopic analyses confirm that the Fe–N 4 and Re(I) carbonyl coordination environments remain preserved after assembly, while density functional theory (DFT)‐supported interfacial charge redistribution induces an internal electric field that promotes directional charge transfer and suppresses carrier recombination. In situ diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy (DRIFTS) reveals * CO‐related and C–C coupling‐related features, supporting a tandem catalytic mechanism in which the Re site catalyzes CO generation and the Fe‐centered porphyrin promotes subsequent C–C coupling. As a result, Fe–Re SA exhibits enhanced photocatalytic CO 2 reduction toward multicarbon products, achieving a C 2 H 4 formation rate of 4967 µmol g −1 h −1 with a total C 2 selectivity of 57.2% (C 2 H 4 selectivity of 47.5%) among carbon‐containing products. The catalyst also maintains decent activity under low CO 2 concentration (3% CO 2 in Ar) and under natural sunlight irradiation, highlighting its potential for practical solar‐driven CO 2 conversion.

Small
Shenzhen MSU-BIT University, State Key Laboratory of Chemical Resource Engineering (CN), Beijing University of Chemical Technology (CN), Xinjiang University (CN)
National Natural Science Foundation of China, Beijing Synchrotron Radiation Facility
Affordable and clean energy, Climate action
Openalex Percentile: Top 33%
Advanced Photocatalysis Techniques
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