{
  "abstract": "Photocatalytic conversion of CO₂ to value-added products by metal-organic framework (MOF)-based catalysts often requires the introduction of secondary metal sites or the anchoring of noble-metal-based photosensitizers, leading to complex designs and increased costs. In this work, we focus on the structure-property relationship of MOFs, emphasizing the band gap and conduction band position of the MOF catalyst. Here, we use a light-sensitive linker [N,N'-di(3,5-dicarboxyphenyl)benzene tetracarboxylic diimide] to design a robust, intrinsically photo-redox-active zirconium MOF. This Zr-MOF with scu topology has a band gap of 2.84 eV and a conduction band position of -0.64 V vs. NHE, which is well positioned for the conversion of CO₂ to CO without the addition of noble metal atoms or photosensitizers. Interestingly, anion radical generation by the linker under light irradiation supports linker-to-cluster charge transfer and simultaneously enables excellent conversion of CO₂ to CO and formate, with yields of 1083.2 µmol g⁻¹ and 265.62 µmol g⁻¹, respectively, and a CO selectivity of 72.12%, surpassing most noble-metal-free Zr-MOF benchmarks. Operando Raman spectroscopy has been used to identify key intermediates, including *CO₂ ⁻, *COOH, *CO, formyl, and O-bound methoxy species. DFT studies corroborate the experimental findings, showing that the free energy profile indicates a lower barrier for *CO than for formyl formation. This linker-first strategy offers an easy, cost-effective, and interesting approach in which judicious choice of the photo-redox linker can modulate the band-edge alignment and microenvironment of the MOF, enabling selective CO₂ to CO photocatalysis without precious metals.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "Department of Chemistry, Birla Institute of Technology and Science Hyderabad Campus Hyderabad 500078 India himanshu.aggarwal@hyderabad.bits-pilani.ac.in.",
    "Materials Centre for Sustainable Energy & Environment (McSEE), Birla Institute of Technology and Science Hyderabad Campus Hyderabad 500078 India.",
    "School of Science, RMIT University GPO Box 2476 Melbourne Victoria 3000 Australia.",
    "College of Chemical Sciences and Engineering (CCSE), Applied Chemistry and Engineering Research Centre of Excellence (ACER CoE), Mohammed VI Polytechnic University (UM6P) Ben Guerir 43150 Morocco."
  ],
  "article_type": "research article",
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 9,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        1
      ],
      "name": "Akhil Chandran P"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        2
      ],
      "name": "Tushar S Verma"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Shreya Sarkar"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Ankur Chanda"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        3
      ],
      "name": "Ayalew H Assen"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Amit Nag",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-8681-3111"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        2
      ],
      "name": "Ravichandar Babarao",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-3556-495X"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        1
      ],
      "name": "Sounak Roy",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-1070-2068"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        1
      ],
      "name": "Himanshu Aggarwal",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-0601-699X"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/at6rd3g6j0ja9.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.1039/d6ra07959h",
  "fulltext_url": "https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13725856/?tool=EBI",
  "id": "at6rd3g6j0ja9",
  "issns": [
    "2046-2069"
  ],
  "landing_url": "https://europepmc.org/article/PMC/PMC13725856",
  "language": "eng",
  "licence": "CC-BY",
  "licence_label": "CC BY",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "heading",
      "Chemistry"
    ],
    [
      "openalex",
      "2105|Advanced Photocatalysis Techniques"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7225075429",
  "pdf_url": "https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13725856/pdf/?tool=EBI",
  "pmcid": "PMC13725856",
  "pmid": "42974380",
  "published": "2026-11-02",
  "publisher": "Royal Society of Chemistry",
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/at6rd3g6j0ja9.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-11-03T15:20:51Z",
      "native_id": "PMC:PMC13725856",
      "source": "europepmc",
      "url": "https://europepmc.org/article/PMC/PMC13725856"
    },
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-11-04T15:20:47Z",
      "native_id": "MED:42974380",
      "source": "europepmc",
      "url": "https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42974380"
    },
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-11-05T12:22:18Z",
      "native_id": "PMC13725856",
      "source": "pmc",
      "url": "https://doi.org/10.1039/d6ra07959h"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "chemistry",
      "origin": "heading:Chemistry",
      "subfield": "general"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Studying the structure–property relationship in Zr-BDI MOF for noble-metal-free selective photocatalytic CO2 conversion to CO",
  "title_text": "Studying the structure–property relationship in Zr-BDI MOF for noble-metal-free selective photocatalytic CO2 conversion to CO",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-11-06T12:21:56Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/at6rd3g6j0ja9",
  "venue": "RSC advances",
  "versions": []
}