Regulation of Bimetallic Coordination Centers in MOF Catalyst for Electrochemical CO₂ Reduction to Formate

Electrocatalytic reduction of CO₂ to valuable chemicals can alleviate the energy crisis, and solve the greenhouse effect. The key is to develop non-noble metal electrocatalysts with high activity, selectivity, and stability. Herein, bimetallic metal organic frameworks (MOFs) materials (BiZn-MOF, BiSn-MOF, and BiIn-MOF) were constructed by coordinating the metals Zn, In, Sn, and Bi with the organic ligand 3-amino-1H-1,2,4-triazole-5-carboxylic acid (H₂atzc) through a rapid microwave synthesis approach. The coordination centers in bimetallic MOF catalyst were regulated to optimize the catalytic performance for electrochemical CO₂ reduction reaction (CO₂RR). The optimized catalyst BiZn-MOF exhibited higher catalytic activity than those of Bi-MOF, BiSn-MOF, and BiIn-MOF. BiZn-MOF exhibited a higher selectivity for formate production with a Faradic efficiency (FE = 92%) at a potential of −0.9 V (vs. RHE, reversible hydrogen electrode) with a current density of 13 mA cm⁻². The current density maintained continuous electrolysis for 13 h. The electrochemical conversion of CO₂ to formate mainly follows the *OCHO pathway. The good catalytic performance of BiZn-MOF may be attributed to the Bi-Zn bimetallic coordination centers in the MOF, which can reduce the binding energies of the reaction intermediates by tuning the electronic structure and atomic arrangement. This study provides a feasible strategy for performance optimization of bismuth-based catalysts.