@article{Zhang2026, 
author = {Xuehua Zhang and Chunlei Su and Rui Shi and Mingming Li and Lili Fu and Rongji Liu and Yong Chen and Bin Li and Guangjin Zhang},
title = {Electron-withdrawing pyridine-functionalized g-C3N4-coordinated cobalt phthalocyanine for enhanced photocatalytic CO2 reduction},
year = {2026},
journal = {Industrial Chemistry & Materials},
volume = {4},
number = {6},
pages = {830-841},
keywords = {CO2 photoreduction, Cobalt phthalocyanine/g-C3N4 hybrid photocatalysts, Polarization engineering, Directional electron transfer, Coordination interaction, Electron-withdrawing effect},
url = {https://www.sciopen.com/article/10.1039/d5im00296f},
doi = {10.1039/d5im00296f},
abstract = {To enhance the charge separation efficiency of g-C3N4 and facilitate electron transfer between photosensitizer and molecular catalyst, polarization and coordination strategies are used by grafting pyridine rings onto the edge of the g-C3N4 framework. Herein, electron-withdrawing pyridine edge-functionalized g-C3N4 (g-C3N4-Px) was synthesized via facile one-step thermal polymerization of urea and 4-aminopyridine, and employed as visible-light photosensitizer hybridized with cobalt phthalocyanine (CoPc) for efficient photoreduction of CO2. Both experimental and theoretical results confirm that electron-withdrawing pyridine grafting facilitates in-plane charge separation and directs electron migration toward the edge of g-C3N4, narrows its band gap for enhanced visible-light absorption, and provides dynamic coordination sites that significantly boost interfacial electron transfer from g-C3N4-Px to CoPc. A significant increase in the CO yield was achieved with the optimized CoPc/g-C3N4-P1.5 hybrid, reaching 14.95 mmol g−1 after 6 hours of visible-light irradiation—a 6.1-fold improvement over the unmodified CoPc/g-C3N4 (2.47 mmol g−1). This work provides a facile approach for developing highly efficient hybrid photocatalysts for CO2 reduction and improving the charge separation and visible-light absorption in organic semiconductors.}
}