Abstract
Hybrid lead halides have demonstrated great promise for CO2 photoreduction due to their excellent photophysical properties. However, developing a single-component hybrid lead halide that combines high intrinsic stability with near-infrared absorption remains a significant challenge. Herein, to address both issues, we design a series of nine highly stable lead halide frameworks functionalized by bis(terpyridine)-metal complexes, which exhibit strong light absorption extending into the near-infrared region up to 1150 nm. Unlike their symmetric chloride and bromide analogues, the charge-polarized lead iodide sites in bis(terpyridine)-metal-functionalized frameworks serve as highly efficient C–C coupling centers for C2 production in near-infrared-driven CO2 photoreduction, achieving notable C2 production rates of up to 14.2 μmol g-1 h-1 with electron selectivities as high as 86%. These performances match the state-of-the-art among all reported single-component, near-infrared-responsive photocatalysts. This work highlights the potential of coordination-driven assembly of highly stable lead halide frameworks for near-infrared-driven artificial photosynthesis.
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Data availability
The data supporting the findings of this study are available. The X-ray crystallographic coordinates for structures reported in this study have been deposited at the Cambridge Crystallographic Data Centre (CCDC), under deposition number 2435159 (TJU-59(Cl)-Fe(tpy)2), 2435160 (TJU-59(Cl)-Co(tpy)2), 2435161 (TJU-59(Cl)-Ni(tpy)2), 2435162 (TJU-59(Br)-Fe(tpy)2), 2435163 (TJU-59(Br)-Co(tpy)2), 2435164 (JU-59(Br)-Ni(tpy)2), 2435165 (TJU-60(I)-Fe(tpy)2), 2435166 (TJU-60(I)-Co(tpy)2) and 2435167 (TJU-60(I)-Ni(tpy)2), respectively. The data can be obtained free of charge from The Cambridge Crystallographic Data Centre via www.ccdc.cam.ac.uk/data_request/cif. Source data are provided with this paper.
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Acknowledgements
This work was supported by grants from the National Key R&D Program of China (2024YFA1211004), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (225B2117, 22171214, 22471196), the Recruitment of Global Youth Experts by China, the Xiaomi Young Talents Program, the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, and the Science & Technology Commission of Shanghai Municipality (19DZ2271500).
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Y.L., Z.C., and H.F. conceived the project. H.F. and Z.C. supervised the project, and Y.L. performed the majority of experimental studies. Z.W., C.S., Q.Z., and Y.J. assisted in synthesis and photophysical studies. X.H. and Z.C. assisted in computational studies. Y.L., Z.C., and H.F. wrote and revised the manuscript. All authors contributed to the discussion and revisions.
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Li, Y., Wang, Z., He, X. et al. Near-infrared-driven photocatalytic CO2 reduction to C2 hydrocarbons by bis(terpyridine)-metal functionalized lead halide frameworks. Nat Commun (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-68450-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-68450-z
