journal article·2026-03Open access

Water‐Soluble Metal Phthalocyanines Enable Molecularly Dispersed Heterogeneous Electrochemical CO 2 Conversion

Xiangyu Zhang, Shoulong Pan, Yu Li, Pan Li, Zizi Ruan, Qing Bai, Qinglin Jiang, Cheng Zhou, Bing Yang, Liang Yao, Yuguang Ma

Advanced Science· Volume 13· Issue 18

Abstract

ABSTRACT Molecular electrocatalysts offer the prospect of atomically defined active sites and tunable reactivity, yet their integration into heterogeneous systems is frequently hindered by limited site accessibility and reduced catalytic performance. Overcoming molecular aggregation and improving electronic coupling with conductive supports are essential for translating molecular precision into practical electrocatalytic devices. Here we show that water‐soluble, tetrasulfonate‐substituted metallophthalocyanines (MPcTs) spontaneously assemble onto carbon black (CB) through π–π interactions, forming highly dispersed and electronically coupled catalytic sites. The resulting MPcTs/CB catalyst enables highly selective CO 2 ‐to‐CO conversion in aqueous media, affording near‐quantitative Faradaic efficiencies and sustained performance over 60 h of continuous operation. Systematic investigations confirm a heterogeneous electrocatalytic pathway, while optimized flow‐cell configurations deliver current densities up to 500 mA cm − 2 with high CO selectivity. This study demonstrates a simple, generalizable strategy to bridge molecular precision and heterogeneous practicality, advancing the design of scalable, high‐performance molecular electrocatalysts for CO 2 electroreduction in aqueous media.
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Research context

OpenAlex topics: CO2 Reduction Techniques and Catalysts · Carbon dioxide utilization in catalysis · Electrocatalysts for Energy Conversion

SciVX discovery tags are terminology-based. OpenAlex topics are source-provided classifications.

Affiliations

State Key Laboratory of Luminescent Materials and Devices Institute of Polymer Optoelectronic Materials and Devices Guangdong Basic Research Center of Excellence for Energy and Information Polymer Materials Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Luminescence from Molecular Aggregates South China University of Technology Guangzhou P. R. China

College of New Materials and New Energies Shenzhen Technology University Shenzhen P. R. China

State Key Laboratory of Supramolecular Structure and Materials College of Chemistry Jilin University Changchun P. R. China

Funding

National Natural Science Foundation of China · Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities · China Postdoctoral Science Foundation

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