Frustrated Lewis-Pair Catalyst Based on Re Single Atoms for Efficient Solar-Driven CO₂ Conversion

Owing to the highly efficient activation ability of frustrated Lewis-pair (FLP) sites for small molecules, the development of FLP-based materials is a fascinating route to convert CO₂ to value-added chemicals using solar energy. Herein, rhenium (Re) single atoms are introduced into the frame of graphitic carbon nitride (Re₁/gCN) to construct unique N···Re₁ FLP sites, where Re single atoms and neighboring N atoms serve as acidic and basic sites, respectively. The N···Re₁ FLP sites can interact with CO₂ molecules to form a Re-O-C-N structure (acid site-basic site-acid site-basic site) via the dramatic d-p orbital interactions, thus inducing an unusual push-push electronic effect to effectively break the C═O bond for CO₂ activation and conversion. As a result, Re₁/gCN achieves a high photocatalytic CO₂-to-CO generation rate of 123.4 μmol g^-1 h^-1 (a CO selectivity of 95.6%) without any sacrificial agents, exceeding the majority of state-of-the-art catalysts under similar test conditions.