Synthesis of two novel cobalt-based coordination polymers and their application in photocatalytic CO2 reduction

In this paper, two novel cobalt-based coordination polymers named [Co₃(H₂L)₂ (bimy) (H₂O)₂]_n (compound 1) and {[Co₂(H₃L) (bib)₂(H₂O)₃]·(H₂O)}_n (compound 2) were synthesized under hydrothermal conditions. The structure of them was characterized by powder X-ray diffraction, single crystal X-ray diffraction, elemental analysis, thermogravimetric analysis, XPS test, SEM test, BET test and infrared analysis. Subsequently, their potential application in photocatalytic CO₂ reduction was systematically explored. The results showed that both compound 1 and compound 2 had good photocatalytic CO₂ reduction performance. When the two compounds were used as catalysts, under the optimal reaction conditions, the generation rates of the reduced products CO was 60.2571 μmol g⁻¹·h⁻¹and 56.4035 μmol g⁻¹ h⁻¹, respectively. Both of them had good stability because their structure did not change before and after the experiment.