Mild pyrolysis of ionic self-assembled cobalt porphyrins on carbon toward efficient electrochemical conversion of CO2 to CO

Abstract

We report ionic self-assembly of two oppositely charged cobalt(III) porphyrins (CoPs) on carbon coupled with subsequent mild pyrolysis at 350 °C, making CoPs lose some peripheral groups and become tightly adsorbed on the carbon with a high faradaic efficiency of 88 ± 1.5% and a current density of 8 mA cm⁻² at a low overpotential of 430 mV toward electrochemical conversion of CO₂ to CO.