ZIF-L-derived ZnO/N-doped carbon with multiple active sites for efficient catalytic CO2 cycloaddition

Integration of Lewis acid and base sites and oxygen surface groups in one catalyst is favorable to promote CO2 cycloaddition reaction. Here, Zn-ZIF-L was used as starting material to design one kind of catalyst with multiple active sites via pyrolysis and oxidization treatment. The well-dispersed ZnO nanoparticles and pyridinic nitrogen in nitrogen-doped carbon serve as Lewis acid and base sites to activate epoxide and CO2 while oxygen surface groups help promote the ring-opening reaction of epoxides. Results show that Zn-ZIF-L derived catalyst displays high catalytic activities for CO2 cycloaddition (6 h, 83% of yield) under mild conditions (70 °C and 0.1 MPa CO2) and outperforms ZIF-8 derived catalyst. Moreover, the obtained catalyst also achieves a satisfactory photothermal catalysis of cycloaddition reaction under light irradiation (120 mW/cm2), which makes our sample a promising catalyst for CO2 conversion.