Selective Conversion of CO₂ into Cyclic Carbonate on Atom Level Catalysts

The conversion of carbon dioxide (CO₂) into organic carbonates under ambient temperatures and pressures with high conversion and selectivity still faces a great challenge. The zerovalent atomic catalysts (ACs), featuring accurate structure and valence states, provide a new and accurate model system for catalysis. Herein we developed a general preadsorption-reduction strategy to synthesize zerovalent cobalt AC on graphdiyne (Co⁰/GDY). The Co⁰/GDY ACs were used for efficient and selective CO₂ fixation. We were surprised to find that Co⁰/GDY ACs reached nearly 100% conversion at 80 °C and 1 atm in CO₂ fixation and with a significantly high turnover frequency (TOF) of 3024.8 h^–1, which is almost several orders larger than that of benchmarked catalysts. Such high conversion and selectivity represent the advantages of emerging catalysts.