Selective electrochemical reduction of CO2 into energy-dense organic compounds is a promising strategy for using CO2 as a carbon source. However, efficient and selective earth abundant metal catalysts for CO2 reduction, are still scarce. Enzymatic systems often constitute the quintessence of selective catalysts, being able to mediate complex transformations with selectivity close to unity. In the context of CO2 reduction, metalloenzymes promoting CO2 transformation constitute a great source of inspiration to prepare non-noble metal catalysts. We will present here an array of strategies inspired from biological systems to promote this reaction with high selectivity and efficiency. We will in particular focus here on the electrocatalytic properties of a molecular complex mimicking the active site of another enzyme mediating CO2 transformation, the Mo-Cu CO-dehydrogenase enzyme (Fig. 1) as well as on using thiolate ligands for the generation of active catalysts for the electroreduction of CO2 to formate (Fig.2).

Electrochemical CO2 reduction using bio-inspired molecular complexes

ACS Spring Meeting 2021

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