Highly Efficient Photoelectrochemical Water Splitting with an Immobilized Molecular Co4 O4 Cubane Catalyst

Yong Wang; Fei Li; Xu Zhou; Fengshou Yu; Jian Du; Lichen Bai; Licheng Sun

doi:10.1002/anie.201703039

Highly Efficient Photoelectrochemical Water Splitting with an Immobilized Molecular Co₄ O₄ Cubane Catalyst

Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 2017 Jun 6;56(24):6911-6915. doi: 10.1002/anie.201703039. Epub 2017 May 5.

Authors

Yong Wang¹, Fei Li¹, Xu Zhou², Fengshou Yu¹, Jian Du¹, Lichen Bai¹, Licheng Sun^{1

3}

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Fine Chemicals, DUT-KTH Joint Education and Research Center on Molecular Devices, Dalian University of Technology (DUT), Dalian, 116024, China.
² Institute of Nuclear Physics and Chemistry, China Academy of Engineering Physics (CAEP), Mianyang, 621900, China.
³ Department of Chemistry, School of Chemical Science and Engineering, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, 10044, Sweden.

PMID: 28474835
DOI: 10.1002/anie.201703039

Abstract

Molecular Co₄ O₄ cubane water oxidation catalysts were combined with BiVO₄ electrodes for photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting. The results show that tuning the substituent groups on cobalt cubane allows the PEC properties of the final molecular catalyst/BiVO₄ hybrid photoanodes to be tailored. Upon loading a new cubane complex featuring alkoxy carboxylato bridging ligands (1 h) on BiVO₄ , an AM 1.5G photocurrent density of 5 mA cm^-2 at 1.23 V vs. RHE for water oxidation was obtained, the highest photocurrent for undoped BiVO₄ photoanodes. A high solar-energy conversion efficiency of 1.84 % was obtained for the integrated photoanode, a sixfold enhancement over that of unmodified BiVO₄ . These results and the high surface charge separation efficiency support the role of surface-modified molecular catalysts in improving PEC performance and demonstrate the potential of molecule/semiconductor hybrids for efficient artificial photosynthesis.

Keywords: bismuth vanadate; hybrid photoanode; molecular catalyst; water oxidation.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't