Softoxometalate [{K6.5Cu(OH)8.5(H2O)7.5}0.5@{K3PW12O40}]n (n = 1348–2024) as an Efficient Inorganic Material for CO2 Reduction with Concomitant Water Oxidation

An immediate challenge for chemists is to devise different methods to trap chemical energy using light by reduction of carbon dioxide to a transportable fuel. To reach this goal the major obstacle lies in finding a suitable material that is abundant and possesses catalytic power to effect such reduction reaction and perform this reduction reaction without using any external photosensitizer. Here we report for the first time a softoxometalate based on a {[K6.5Cu(OH)8.5(H2O)7.5]0.5[K3PW12O40]} metal oxide framework which is stable in reaction conditions that effectively performs photochemical CO2 reduction reaction in water with a very high turnover number of 613 and TOF of 47.15 h–1. We observe that during this reaction water gets oxidized to oxygen, while the electrons released directly go to CO2 reducing it to formic acid. A detailed account of the characterization of the catalyst along with that of products of this reaction is reported.