Efficient Photosynthesis of Value-Added Chemicals by Electrocarboxylation of Bromobenzene with CO Using a Solar Energy Conversion Device.

Solar-driven CO conversion into high-value-added chemicals, powered by photovoltaics, is a promising technology for alleviating the global energy crisis and achieving carbon neutrality. However, most of these endeavors focus on CO electroreduction to small-molecule fuels such as CO and ethanol. In this paper, inspired by the photosynthesis of green plants and artificial photosynthesis for the electroreduction of CO into value-added fuel, CO artificial photosynthesis for the electrocarboxylation of bromobenzene (BB) with CO to generate the value-added carboxylation product methyl benzoate (MB) is demonstrated. Using two series-connected dye-sensitized photovoltaics and high-performance catalyst Ag electrodes, our artificial photosynthesis system achieves a 61.1% Faraday efficiency (FE) for carboxylation product MB and stability of the whole artificial photosynthesis for up to 4 h. In addition, this work provides a promising approach for the artificial photosynthesis of CO electrocarboxylation into high-value chemicals using renewable energy sources.