Through the design and synthesis of "optical switch" catalyst, Professor Wang Cheng's research group of Xiamen University successfully realized the high selective conversion of carbon dioxide to ethanol

Recently, Professor Wang Cheng's research group of Xiamen University successfully realized the highly selective conversion of carbon dioxide to ethanol by designing and synthesizing "optical switch" catalyst The results were published in doi: 10.1021/jacs.9b11443 under the title of "photoactivation of Cu centers in metal – organic frameworks for selective CO 2 conversion to ethanol" The hydrogenation process of CO2 is an important part of carbon cycle The conversion of CO2 to high value-added ethanol and other products has attracted much attention Copper is considered as an important catalyst for CO2 hydrogenation Professor Wang Cheng's research group used MOF limited copper nanoparticles to carry out high selective catalytic methanol production (j.am Chem SOC., 2017, 139 (10), 3834 – 3840), and found that univalent copper can help to produce ethanol (nature catalysis, 2019, 2, 709-717), but univalent copper is difficult to be stable for a long time under reaction conditions, and will gradually change to zero valent copper In order to solve this problem, the research group designed and prepared copper center catalyst with photosensitizer group based on MOF carrier By using the single electron transfer between photosensitizer and Cu center, we can reduce the Cu2 + to Cu1 + or oxidize the Cu2 + nanoparticles to Cu1 + to stabilize the Cu2 + The valence state of copper before and after the reaction was confirmed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and the electron transfer process of catalytic center was observed by transient absorption spectroscopy This work not only shows the advantages of MOF as a carrier, but also brings a new understanding of the process of CO2 hydrogenation to ethanol (source: J am Chem SOC.) Ph.D student Zeng Lingzhen was the first author of the paper Wang Zhiye and Wang Yongke participated in the research of spectrum This work was supported by the key R & D plan of the Ministry of science and Technology (approval No.: 2016yfa0200702) and the National Natural Science Foundation (approval No.: 21671162, 21721001) and other projects.