Identification of Synergies in Fe, Co-Coordinated Polyphthalocyanines Scaffolds for Electrochemical CO Reduction Reaction

The synergistic interaction between the isolated metal sites promoted the electrocatalytic activity of the catalysts. However, the structural heterogeneity of the isolated sites makes it challenging to evaluate this effect accurately. In this work, metal-coordinated polyphthalocyanine molecules (Fe-PPc, Co-PPc, FeCo-PPc) with long-range ordered and precise coordination structures are used as a platform to study the synergies of different isolated metal sites in the electrochemical CO reduction reaction. The combination means of experimental and theoretical calculation clearly reveal that the coexistence of Fe and Co sites in PPc significantly enhances the conjugation effect of the macrocycle. This enhancement subsequently causes the metal sites to lose more electrons, thereby improving their adsorption of CO and facilitating the formation of intermediate *COOH on them. As a result, FeCo-PPc achieves a CO partial current density of about 57.4 mA/cm with a high turnover frequency of over 49000 site h at -0.9 V (vs RHE).