Carbon nanotube heterogenization improves cobalt pyridyldiimine complex CO 2 reduction activity in aqueous carbonate buffer.

We present two novel cobalt pyridyldiimine complexes functionalized with pyrene. Initially modest in homogeneous acetonitrile solution, their electrocatalytic CO 2 reduction performance significantly improves upon immobilization on MWCNTs in an aqueous carbonate buffer. The complexes exhibit outstanding stability, with CO selectivity exceeding 97%, and TON and TOF values reaching up to 10 4 and above 1.2 s -1 , respectively.