Polymerized Ionic Liquid Co-Catalysts Driving Photocatalytic Carbon Dioxide Transformation

Abstract

Photocatalytic production of CO from CO₂ has the potential for safe and atom-economic production of feedstock chemicals via in-situ carbonylation chemistry. We developed novel ionic liquid-based polymeric materials through radical copolymerisation of 1-butyl-3-vinylimidazolium chloride and photocatalytically active Re- and Ru-complexes that serve as CO₂ reduction catalyst and photosensitiser, respectively. The crosslinked polymeric framework allows for the facile immobilisation of molecular organometallic complexes for use as heterogenised catalysts; moreover, the involved imidazolium core units co-catalyze the reduction of CO2 via covalent interaction. The ratio of sensitiser and catalyst was analysed by laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectroscopy (LA-ICP-MS) and set in relation to results from photocatalytic experiments. Ultimately, the heterogenous polymeric framework showed high selectivity for CO formation on photocatalytic CO₂ reduction with improved stability to the corresponding homogenous system.