Synthesis and investigation of tetraphenyltetrabenzoporphyrins for electrocatalytic reduction of carbon dioxide

We report the synthesis and electrochemical properties of freebase tetraphenyltetrabenzoporphyrin and its complexes of Zn(ii), Co(ii), Ni(ii), Cu(ii) and Sn(iv) towards electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide (CO(2)). Based on cyclic voltammetry, it is shown that central metals significantly affect the electrocatalytic performance in the reduction of CO(2) in terms of reduction potential and catalytic current enhancement. At an applied potential of –1.90 V vs. an Ag/AgCl quasi reference electrode for 20 h, the electrocatalytic reduction of CO(2) realized by Zn(ii)- and Cu(ii)-tetraphenyltetrabenzoporphyrins to carbon monoxide resulted in faradaic efficiencies of around 48% and 33%, respectively.