Ag-organic coordination polymers with multi-dimensional electron transfer channels for enhancing CO2 electroreduction

Two Ag-MOCPs with different dimensional electron transfer Channels were used for electrocatalytic conversion CO 2 to CO. • New Ag-MOCP materials for CO 2 RR electrocatalysts were synthesized. • CO 2 -to-CO conversion was boosted with the regulation of the electron transfer channel. • The FE CO for Ag-MOCP-2 with multi-dimensional electron transfer channels is higher than that for Ag-MOCP-1 with single channel at most given potentials. • The mechanism of its reaction was further explored by DFT calculation. Although, electrons transfer plays an important role in achieving the electrocatalytic CO 2 reduction reaction (CO 2 RR), it is scarce to regulate the electron transfer channels for enhancing the performance of CO 2 RR via rational design. Here, based on different solvothermal conditions, two metal-organic coordination polymers (MOCPs, Ag-MOCP-1 and Ag-MOCP-2 ) electrocatalyst for CO 2 RR were obtained by the same Ag ions and 5-phenyltetrazolium ligands. Single crystal X-ray diffraction showed Ag-MOCP-2 with intra-&inter-layer C–H···π and π···π interactions, while Ag-MOCP-1 with intra-layer π···π interactions. The intra-&inter-layer π interactions in Ag-MOCP-2 makes it show multi-dimensional electron transfer channels, which enable Ag-MOCP-2 with higher electron conductivities and lower band gap than Ag-MOCP-1 . And the Faradaic efficiency of CO for Ag-MOCP-2 with 78.3% is higher than that for Ag-MOCP-1 with 69.1% at -1.08 V vs . RHE, and the maximum difference can reach 22% at -1.48 V vs . RHE. Based on the same central metal and organic ligands of the two MOCPs, we believe that multi-dimensional electron transfer channels make a predominant contribution for improving CO 2 RR performance in this work.