(67f) DNA-Immobilized Electrocatalysts for Improved CO2 Reduction Efficiency

Carbon dioxide can be electrochemically reduced to yield different high-value chemical products. However, direct electrochemical CO₂ reduction is notoriously difficult owing to the large overpotential required to generate anionic radicals. Generally, small-molecule catalysts anchored to electrodes are required for this chemical transformation to occur efficiently. Recently, significant effort has been devoted to increase surface loading of the catalysts, but there have been no systematic studies of this loading. Herein, we have developed a general electrocatalyst immobilization technique using deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). Due to its self-recognition, conductivity and chemical stability, DNA hybridization was used to localize catalysts on the electrode surface. Using this method, we specifically controlled the distance between the catalytic sites to elucidate the structure-function relationship for these CO₂ electroreduction catalysts. This method affords precision, tunability and specificity unavailable with current techniques, providing a new strategy to improve electrochemical CO₂ reduction efficiency.