Aggregation and Significant Difference in Reactivity Therein: Blocking the CO2‑to-CH3OH Reaction

A CoPc/CNT system has been only recently reported to transform CO2 to methanol via electrochemical reductions, despite the fact that catalyst has been studied extensively since the 1980s. The explanation of high methanol selectivity lies behind the fact that in the new report CoPc exists mainly as a monomer, while in earlier works aggregates dominate. Here, we have studied the reactivity of monomeric and dimeric CoPc by DFT. The mechanism involves rate-limiting CO2 association, with the C–O cleavage step having very similar activation free energy. Once the Co–CO– intermediate is formed, the reaction bifurcates with two possible paths: (1) CO dissociation or (2) one additional reduction follows a protonation to give the Co–CHO– intermediate, which then leads to methanol by further reactions. For the monomeric species at low reduction potentials, CO dissociation is favored, but the formation of Co–CHO– becomes competitive at more negative applied potentials. For the dimer, the CO dissociation is always favored, and the reduction needed to form the C–H bond is negative enough for it not to be observed. The more difficult reduction stems from repulsive interactions between the CoPc units and lower solvent stabilization of the charge in the aggregate.