Amide-bridged conjugated organic polymers: efficient metal-free catalysts for visible-light-driven CO2 reduction with H2O to CO

The visible-light-driven photoreduction of CO2 to value-added chemicals over metal-free photocatalysts without sacrificial reagents is very interesting, but challenging. Herein, we present amide-bridged conjugated organic polymers (amide-COPs) prepared via self-condensation of amino nitriles in combination with hydrolysis, for the photoreduction of CO2 with H2O without any photosensitizers or sacrificial reagents under visible light irradiation. These catalysts can afford CO as the sole carbonaceous product without H2 generation. Especially, amide-DAMN derived from diaminomaleonitrile exhibited the highest activity for the photoreduction of CO2 to CO with a generation rate of 20.6 μmol g−1 h−1. Experiments and DFT calculations confirmed cyano/amide groups as active sites for CO2 reduction and second amine groups for H2O oxidation, and suggested that superior selectivity towards CO may be attributed to the adjacent redox sites. This work presents a new insight into designing photocatalysts for artificial photosynthesis.