Mild pyrolysis of ionic self-assembled cobalt porphyrins on carbon toward efficient electrochemical conversion of CO2 to CO

We report ionic self-assembly of two oppositely charged cobalt(QIII) porphyrins (CoPs) on carbon coupled with subsequent mild pyrolysis at 350 degrees C, making CoPs lose some peripheral groups and become tightly adsorbed on the carbon with a high faradaic efficiency of 88 +/- 1.5% and a current density of 8 mA cm(-2) at a low overpotential of 430 mV toward electrochemical conversion of CO2 to CO