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Electron-withdrawing pyridine-functionalized g-C3N4-coordinated cobalt phthalocyanine for enhanced photocatalytic CO2 reduction
Industrial Chemistry & Materials 2026, 4(6): 830-841
Published: 11 December 2025
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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.

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