Metal–Salen-Incorporated conjugated microporous polymers as robust artificial leaves for solar-driven reduction of atmospheric CO2 with H2O

Exploration of efficient and stable photocatalysts to mimic natural leaves for the conversion of atmospheric CO₂ into hydrocarbons utilizing solar light is very important but remains a major challenge. Herein, we report the design of four novel metal–salen-incorporated conjugated microporous polymers as robust artificial leaves for photoreduction of atmospheric CO₂ with gaseous water. Owing to the rich nitrogen and oxygen moieties in the polymeric frameworks, they show a maximum CO₂ adsorption capacity of 46.1 cm³ g⁻¹ and adsorption selectivity for CO₂/N₂ of up to 82 at 273 K. Under air atmosphere and simulated solar light (100 mW cm⁻²), TEPT-Zn shows an excellent CO yield of 304.96 μmol h⁻¹ g⁻¹ with a selectivity of approximately 100%, which represents one of the best results in terms of organic photocatalysts for gas-phase CO₂ photoreduction so far. Furthermore, only small degradation in the CO yield is observed even after 120-h continuous illumination. More importantly, a good CO yield of 152.52 μmol g⁻¹ was achieved by directly exposing the photocatalytic reaction of TEPT-Zn in an outdoor environment for 3 h (25–28°C, 52.3 ± 7.9 mW cm⁻²). This work provides an avenue for the continued development of advanced polymers toward gas-phase photoconversion of CO₂ from air.