Molecular engineering for efficient and selective iron porphyrin catalysts for electrochemical reduction of CO2 to CO.

Iron porphyrins Fe-pE, Fe-mE, and Fe-oE were synthesized and their electrochemical behavior for CO2 reduction to CO has been investigated. The controlled potential electrolysis of Fe-mE gave exclusive 65% Faradaic efficiency (FE) whereas Fe-oE achieved quasi-quantitative 98% FE (2% H2) for CO production.