Neutral Electrosynthesis of Methane from Diluted CO 2 on Dense Cu Sites Embedded Covalent Organic Frameworks

Electrochemical upgrading of diluted CO2, particularly in neutral media, offers a promising route to reduce the costs associated with purified/concentrated CO2 streams. However, challenges, such as sluggish mass transport, competitive hydrogen evolution, and poor selectivity, remain unresolved. Herein, we design a covalent organic framework (COF) featuring dense (8.4 wt %) copper atomic sites (Cu-COFs) for boosting direct electroreduction of diluted CO2 to methane. We demonstrate that the pyridinic N and microporous structure of Cu-COFs efficiently enrich local CO2 through dominant van der Waals force and nano confinement, while the pyridinic nitrogen functional groups from Cu-COFs facilitate the formation of…

• NN
  National Natural Science Foundation of China

  Award: 52333010