Selective CO Reduction Catalyzed by Single Cobalt Sites on Carbon Nitride under Visible-Light Irradiation.

Framework nitrogen atoms of carbon nitride (CN) can coordinate with and activate metal sites for catalysis. In this study, CN was employed to harvest visible light and activate Co sites, without the use of additional ligands, in photochemical CO reduction. Photocatalysts containing single Co sites on CN were prepared by a simple deposition method and demonstrated excellent activity and product selectivity toward CO formation. A turnover number of more than 200 was obtained for CO production using the synthesized photocatalyst under visible-light irradiation. Inactive cobalt oxides formed at relatively high cobalt loadings but did not alter product selectivity. Further studies with X-ray absorption spectroscopy confirmed the presence of single Co sites on CN and their important role in achieving selective CO reduction.