Tweaking Photo CO2 Reduction by Altering Lewis Acidic Sites in Metalated‐Porous Organic Polymer for Adjustable H2/CO Ratio in Syngas Production

Abstract

AbstractHerein, we have specifically designed two metalated porous organic polymers (Zn‐POP and Co‐POP) for syngas (CO+H2) production from gaseous CO2. The variable H2/CO ratio of syngas with the highest efficiency was produced in water medium (without an organic hole scavenger and photosensitizer) by utilizing the basic principle of Lewis acid/base chemistry. Also, we observed the formation of entirely different major products during photocatalytic CO2 reduction and water splitting with the help of the two catalysts, where CO (145.65 μmol g−1 h−1) and H2 (434.7 μmol g−1 h−1) production were preferentially obtained over Co‐POP & Zn‐POP, respectively. The higher electron density/better Lewis basic nature of Co‐POP was investigated further using XPS, XANES, and NH3‐TPD studies, which considerably improve CO2 activation capacity. Moreover, the structure–activity relationship was confirmed via in situ DRIFTS and DFT studies, which demonstrated the formation of COOH* intermediate along with the thermodynamic feasibility of CO2 reduction over Co‐POP while water splitting occurred preferentially over Zn‐POP.