Núria López, Vlad Martin-Diaconescu, Alexandr Shafir, Federico Franco, Julio Lloret-Fillol, Phebe H. van Langevelde, Geyla C. Dubed Bandomo, Suvendu Sekhar Mondal, Manuel A. Ortuño, Alberto Bucci, Dubed Bandomo, Geyla C., Sekhar Mondal, Suvendu, Franco, Federico, Bucci, Alberto, Martin-Diaconescu, Vlad, Ortu??o, Manuel A., van Langevelde, Phebe H., Shafir, Alexandr, L??pez, N??ria, and Lloret-Fillol, Julio
The development of CO2 electroreduction (CO2RR) catalysts based on covalent organic frameworks (COFs) is an emerging strategy to produce synthetic fuels. However, our understanding on catalytic mechanisms and structure-activity relationships for COFs is still limited but essential to the rational design of these catalysts. Herein, we report a newly devised CO2 reduction catalyst by loading single-atom centers, {fac-Mn(CO)(3)S}, (S = Br, CH3CN, H2O), within a bipyridylbased COF (COFbpyMn). COFbpyMn shows a low CO2RR onset potential (eta = 190 mV) and high current densities (>12 mA.cm(-2), at 550 mV overpotential) in water. TOFCO and TONCO values are as high as 1100 h-1 and 5800 (after 16 h), respectively, which are more than 10-fold higher than those obtained for the equivalent manganese-based molecular catalyst. Furthermore, we accessed key catalytic intermediates within a COF matrix by combining experimental and computational (DFT) techniques. The COF imposes mechanical constraints on the {fac-Mn(CO)(3)S} centers, offering a strategy to avoid forming the detrimental dimeric Mn-0-Mn-0, which is a resting state typically observed for the homologous molecular complex. The absence of dimeric species correlates to the catalytic enhancement. These findings can guide the rational development of isolated single-atom sites and the improvement of the catalytic performance of reticular materials.