Enhancing selectivity through decrypting the uncoordinated zirconium sites in MOF electrocatalysts

Abstract

Zirconium (Zr)-based porphyrinic metal–organic frameworks (PCN-223-M) were employed as the electrocatalysts to explore the effect of uncoordinated Zr sites on the performance of the CO₂ reduction reaction (CO₂RR). PCN-223-AA with the lowest uncoordinated number of 0.79 exhibited the highest FE(CO) of 90.7%. It was demonstrated that the catalytic performance of PCN-223-M showed negative correlation to the uncoordinated Zr sites. This research provided a rational strategy to design efficient MOF electrocatalysts with few uncoordinated metal sites for highly selective CO₂RR.