CD-MOF Photocatalyst

Tandem CO₂ reduction & alcohol oxidation

Assembling CD-MOF on ZnCdS enables molecular recognition of benzyl alcohol and spatial confinement of CO₂, achieving tandem photoredox with a 14.5-fold enhancement in CO production over pristine ZnCdS.

Zhang, Wen · Yixin, Song · Liu, Yu · An, Changhua

Small 2026

Specifications

Benzyl alcohol oxidation selectivity

{'zh': '100', 'en': '100'} %

Advantages

Dual-substrate co-activation

γ-CD cavities recognize benzyl alcohol via host-guest interactions while the porous framework confines and accumulates CO₂, bringing both substrates into reactive proximity to drive reduction and oxidation simultaneously.

Enhanced charge separation

The interfacial dipole field enhances charge separation and accelerates interfacial electron transfer, suppressing recombination and boosting photocatalytic efficiency.

High oxidation selectivity

Benzyl alcohol is oxidized to benzaldehyde with nearly 100% selectivity, rivaling state-of-the-art performance among non-precious metal systems.

Applications

• Photocatalytic CO₂ reduction：Uses CO₂ as carbon source to produce CO while also utilizing photogenerated holes for organic oxidation, achieving high atom economy.
• Photocatalytic organic synthesis：Selectively oxidizes alcohols to aldehydes under mild conditions, enabling synthesis of value-added chemicals.
• Selective alcohol oxidation：Achieves nearly 100% selectivity for benzyl alcohol oxidation, avoiding overoxidation for fine chemical synthesis.