Photochemical Reduction of Low Concentrations of CO2 in a Porous Coordination Polymer with a Ruthenium(II)–CO Complex

Direct use of low pressures of CO2 as a C1 source without concentration from gas mixtures is of great interest from an energy-saving viewpoint. Porous heterogeneous catalysts containing both adsorption and catalytically active sites are promising candidates for such applications. Here, we report a porous coordination polymer (PCP)-based catalyst, PCP-Ru(II) composite, bearing a Ru(II) -CO complex active for CO2 reduction. The PCP-Ru(II) composite showed improved CO2 adsorption behavior at ambient temperature. In the photochemical reduction of CO2 the PCP-Ru(II) composite produced CO, HCOOH, and H2 . Catalytic activity was comparable with the corresponding homogeneous Ru(II) catalyst and ranks among the highest of known PCP-based catalysts. Furthermore, catalytic activity was maintained even under a 5 % CO2 /Ar gas mixture, revealing a synergistic effect between the adsorption and catalytically active sites within the PCP-Ru(II) composite.