Facile Preparation of Hydrogen-Bonded Organic Framework/Cu₂O Heterostructure Films via Electrophoretic Deposition for Efficient CO₂ Photoreduction

Abstract

Photocatalytic CO₂ reduction is one of the most cost-effective and environmentally friendly techniques of converting CO₂ into high-value compounds and/or fuels. However, the performance of most current photocatalytic CO₂ reduction catalysts is less than satisfactory for practical applications. Here, we synthesized a heterogeneous structure by integrating Cu₂O and a porphyrin hydrogen-bonded organic framework (PFC-45), which was then fabricated into a thin-film catalyst on carbolic paper (CP) using a facile electrophoretic deposition technology. With improved electron-hole separation efficiency and visible-light-harvesting ability, this film (PFC-45/Cu₂O@CP) significantly enhanced CO₂-to-CO photoreduction, exceeding 2.4 and 3.2 times that of PFC-45@CP and PFC-45/Cu₂O particles, respectively. Remarkably, PFC-45/Cu₂O@CP also exhibited high selectivity (99%) and outstanding activity (11.81 μmol g^-1 h^-1) for photocatalytic CO₂ reduction in pure water without any sacrificial agent. This work demonstrates a new strategy to design photocatalysts for efficient CO₂ reduction.