Pyrolyzed Triazine-Based Nanoporous Frameworks Enable Electrochemical CO2 Reduction in Water

The first study of rational synthesis of triazine-based nanoporous frameworks as electrocatalysts for CO2 reduction reaction (CO2RR) was presented. The resulting optimized framework with rich pyridinic nitrogen-containing sites can selectively reduce CO2 to CO in water with a high Faradic efficiency of ca. 82% under a moderate overpotential of 560 mV. The key of our success lies in the use of pyridine-based backbones as sacrificial groups inside the triazine framework for in situ generation of CO2RR-active pyridinic N-doped sites during the high-temperature ZnCl2-promoted polymerization process. We anticipate that this study may facilitate new possibilities for the development of porous organic polymers for electrochemical conversion of CO2.