Selective Conversion of CO2into Cyclic Carbonate on Atom Level Catalysts

Abstract

The conversion of carbon dioxide (CO2) into organic carbonates under ambient temperatures and pressures with high conversion and selectivity still faces a great challenge. The zerovalent atomic catalysts (ACs), featuring accurate structure and valence states, provide a new and accurate model system for catalysis. Herein we developed a general preadsorption-reduction strategy to synthesize zerovalent cobalt AC on graphdiyne (Co0/GDY). The Co0/GDY ACs were used for efficient and selective CO2 fixation. We were surprised to find that Co0/GDY ACs reached nearly 100% conversion at 80 °C and 1 atm in CO2 fixation and with a significantly high turnover frequency (TOF) of 3024.8 h-1, which is almost several orders larger than that of benchmarked catalysts. Such high conversion and selectivity represent the advantages of emerging catalysts.