Highly Efficient Photocatalytic Conversion of CO2 to CO Catalyzed by Surface‐Ligand‐Removed and Cd‐Rich CdSe Quantum Dots

Abstract Surface ligand‐removed and Cd‐rich CdSe quantum dots (QDs) exhibited exceptional activity as photocatalyst for the conversion of CO2 to CO. A CO production rate up to 789 mmol g−1 h−1 was achieved in a triethylamine/dimethylformamide mixture under visible‐light irradiation. Mechanistic studies revealed that improving the Cd/Se stoichiometric ratio and exposing more active surface Cd atoms significantly enhanced the activity of CdSe QDs for CO2 photoreduction.