Increasing the CO₂ Reduction Activity of Cobalt Phthalocyanine by Modulating the σ-Donor Strength of Axially Coordinating Ligands

Axial coordination of a pyridyl moieties to CoPc (either exogenous or within poly-4-vinylpyridine polymer) dramatically increases the complex’s activity for CO₂RR. It has been hypothesized that axial coordination to the Co active site leads to an increase in the Co dz² orbital energy, which increases the complex’s nucleophilicity and facilitates CO₂ coordination compared to the parent CoPc complex. The magnitude of the energy increase in the Co dz² orbital should depend on the σ-donor strength of the axial ligand—a stronger σ-donating ligand (L) will increase the overall CO₂RR activity of axially coordinated CoPc(L) and vice versa. To test this, we have studied a series of CoPc(L) complexes where the σ-donor strength of L is varied. We show that CoPc(L) reduces CO₂ with an increased activity as the σ-donor ability of L is increased. These observed electrochemical activity trends are correlated with computationally-derived CO₂ binding energy and charge transfer terms as a function of σ-donor strength. The findings of this study supports our hypothesis that the increased CO₂RR activity observed upon axial coordination to CoPc is due to the increased energy of the dz² orbital, and highlight an important design consideration for macrocyclic MN₄-based electrocatalysts.