Water oxidation by electrodeposited cobalt oxides--role of anions and redox-inert cations in structure and function of the amorphous catalyst

Transition-Metal (Co, Ni, and Fe)-Based Electrocatalysts for the Water Oxidation Reaction

Increasing energy demands and environment awareness have promoted extensive research on the development of alternative energy conversion and storage technologies with high efficiency and environmental friendliness. Among them, water splitting is very appealing, and is receiving more and more attention. The critical challenge of this renewable-energy technology is to expedite the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) because of its slow kinetics and large overpotential. Therefore, developing efficient electrocatalysts with high catalytic activities is of great importance for high-performance water splitting. In the past few years, much effort has been devoted to the development of alternative OER electrocatalysts based on transition-metal elements that are low-cost, highly efficient, and have excellent stability. Here, recent progress on the design, synthesis, and application of OER electrocatalysts based on transition-metal elements, including Co, Ni, and Fe, is summarized, and some invigorating perspectives on the future developments are provided.

Earth-Abundant Heterogeneous Water Oxidation Catalysts

Water oxidation is a key chemical transformation for the conversion of solar energy into chemical fuels. Our review focuses on recent work on robust earth-abundant heterogeneous catalysts for the oxygen-evolving reaction (OER). We point out that improvements in the performance of OER catalysts will depend critically on the success of work aimed at understanding reaction barriers based on atomic-level mechanisms. We highlight the challenge of obtaining acid-stable OER catalysts, with proposals for elements that could be employed to reach this goal. We suggest that future advances in solar fuels science will be accelerated by the development of new methods for materials synthesis and characterization, along with in-depth investigations of redox mechanisms at catalytic surfaces.

Efficient electrochemical water oxidation in neutral and near-neutral systems with a nanoscale silver-oxide catalyst

In electrocatalytic water splitting systems pursuing for renewable energy using sunlight, developing robust, stable and easily accessible materials operating under mild chemical conditions is pivotal. We present here a unique nanoparticulate type silver-oxide (AgOx-NP) based robust and highly stable electrocatalyst for efficient water oxidation. The AgOx-NP is generated in situ in a HCO3(-)/CO2 system under benign conditions. Micrographs show that they exhibit a nanoscale box type squared nano-bipyramidal configuration. The oxygen generation is initiated at low overpotential, and a sustained O2 evolution current density of >1.1 mA cm(-2) is achieved during prolonged-period water electrolysis. The AgOx-NP electrocatalyst performs exceptionally well in metal-ion free neutral or near-neutral carbonate, phosphate and borate buffers relative to recently reported Co-oxide and Ni-oxide based heterogeneous electrocatalysts, which are unstable in metal-ion free electrolytes and tend to deactivate with time and lose catalytic performance during long-term experimental tests.

Atomically monodisperse nickel nanoclusters as highly active electrocatalysts for water oxidation

Achieving water splitting at low overpotential with high oxygen evolution efficiency and stability is important for realizing solar to chemical energy conversion devices. Herein we report the synthesis, characterization and electrochemical evaluation of highly active nickel nanoclusters (Ni NCs) for water oxidation at low overpotential. These atomically precise and monodisperse Ni NCs are characterized by using UV-visible absorption spectroscopy, single crystal X-ray diffraction and mass spectrometry. The molecular formulae of these Ni NCs are found to be Ni4(PET)8 and Ni6(PET)12 and are highly active electrocatalysts for oxygen evolution without any pre-conditioning. Ni4(PET)8 are slightly better catalysts than Ni6(PET)12 which initiate oxygen evolution at an amazingly low overpotential of ∼1.51 V (vs. RHE; η≈ 280 mV). The peak oxygen evolution current density (J) of ∼150 mA cm(-2) at 2.0 V (vs. RHE) with a Tafel slope of 38 mV dec(-1) is observed using Ni4(PET)8. These results are comparable to the state-of-the-art RuO2 electrocatalyst, which is highly expensive and rare compared to Ni-based materials. Sustained oxygen generation for several hours with an applied current density of 20 mA cm(-2) demonstrates the long-term stability and activity of these Ni NCs towards electrocatalytic water oxidation. This unique approach provides a facile method to prepare cost-effective, nanoscale and highly efficient electrocatalysts for water oxidation.

Manganese Compounds as Water-Oxidizing Catalysts: From the Natural Water-Oxidizing Complex to Nanosized Manganese Oxide Structures

All cyanobacteria, algae, and plants use a similar water-oxidizing catalyst for water oxidation. This catalyst is housed in Photosystem II, a membrane-protein complex that functions as a light-driven water oxidase in oxygenic photosynthesis. Water oxidation is also an important reaction in artificial photosynthesis because it has the potential to provide cheap electrons from water for hydrogen production or for the reduction of carbon dioxide on an industrial scale. The water-oxidizing complex of Photosystem II is a Mn-Ca cluster that oxidizes water with a low overpotential and high turnover frequency number of up to 25-90 molecules of O2 released per second. In this Review, we discuss the atomic structure of the Mn-Ca cluster of the Photosystem II water-oxidizing complex from the viewpoint that the underlying mechanism can be informative when designing artificial water-oxidizing catalysts. This is followed by consideration of functional Mn-based model complexes for water oxidation and the issue of Mn complexes decomposing to Mn oxide. We then provide a detailed assessment of the chemistry of Mn oxides by considering how their bulk and nanoscale properties contribute to their effectiveness as water-oxidizing catalysts.

Heterotrimetallic sandwich complexes supported by sulfonamido ligands

Co^II complexes bearing sulfonamido ligands derived from tris(2-aminoethyl)amine (H₆tren) assemble into complex architectures in the presence of Group II ions through interactions between the Group II ion and the sulfonyl oxygens.

Oxyanion induced variations in domain structure for amorphous cobalt oxide oxygen evolving catalysts, resolved by X-ray pair distribution function analysis

Amorphous thin film oxygen evolving catalysts, OECs, of first-row transition metals show promise to serve as self-assembling photoanode materials in solar-driven, photoelectrochemical `artificial leaf' devices. This report demonstrates the ability to use high-energy X-ray scattering and atomic pair distribution function analysis, PDF, to resolve structure in amorphous metal oxide catalyst films. The analysis is applied here to resolve domain structure differences induced by oxyanion substitution during the electrochemical assembly of amorphous cobalt oxide catalyst films, Co-OEC. PDF patterns for Co-OEC films formed using phosphate, Pi, methylphosphate, MPi, and borate, Bi, electrolyte buffers show that the resulting domains vary in size following the sequence Pi < MPi < Bi. The increases in domain size for CoMPi and CoBi were found to be correlated with increases in the contributions from bilayer and trilayer stacked domains having structures intermediate between those of the LiCoOO and CoO(OH) mineral forms. The lattice structures and offset stacking of adjacent layers in the partially stacked CoMPi and CoBi domains were best matched to those in the LiCoOO layered structure. The results demonstrate the ability of PDF analysis to elucidate features of domain size, structure, defect content and mesoscale organization for amorphous metal oxide catalysts that are not readily accessed by other X-ray techniques. PDF structure analysis is shown to provide a way to characterize domain structures in different forms of amorphous oxide catalysts, and hence provide an opportunity to investigate correlations between domain structure and catalytic activity.

Reversible amorphization and the catalytically active state of crystalline Co3O4 during oxygen evolution

Water splitting catalysed by earth-abundant materials is pivotal for global-scale production of non-fossil fuels, yet our understanding of the active catalyst structure and reactivity is still insufficient. Here we report on the structurally reversible evolution of crystalline Co3O4 electrocatalysts during oxygen evolution reaction identified using advanced in situ X-ray techniques. At electrode potentials facilitating oxygen evolution, a sub-nanometre shell of the Co3O4 is transformed into an X-ray amorphous CoOx(OH)y which comprises di-μ-oxo-bridged Co(3+/4+) ions. Unlike irreversible amorphizations, here, the formation of the catalytically-active layer is reversed by re-crystallization upon return to non-catalytic electrode conditions. The Co3O4 material thus combines the stability advantages of a controlled, stable crystalline material with high catalytic activity, thanks to the structural flexibility of its active amorphous oxides. We propose that crystalline oxides may be tailored for generating reactive amorphous surface layers at catalytic potentials, just to return to their stable crystalline state under rest conditions.

Electrosynthesis of highly transparent cobalt oxide water oxidation catalyst films from cobalt aminopolycarboxylate complexes

Efficient catalysis of water oxidation represents one of the major challenges en route to efficient sunlight-driven water splitting. Cobalt oxides (CoOx ) have been widely investigated as water oxidation catalysts, although the incorporation of these materials into photoelectrochemical devices has been hindered by a lack of transparency. Herein, the electrosynthesis of transparent CoOx catalyst films is described by utilizing cobalt(II) aminopolycarboxylate complexes as precursors to the oxide. These complexes allow control over the deposition rate and morphology to enable the production of thin, catalytic CoOx films on a conductive substrate, which can be exploited in integrated photoelectrochemical devices. Notably, under a bias of 1.0 V (vs. Ag/AgCl), the film deposited from [Co(NTA)(OH2 )2 ](-) (NTA=nitrilotriacetate) decreased the transmission by only 10 % at λ=500 nm, but still generated >80 % of the water oxidation current produced by a [Co(OH2 )6 ](2+) -derived oxide film whose transmission was only 40 % at λ=500 nm.

Water oxidation by manganese oxides formed from tetranuclear precursor complexes: the influence of phosphate on structure and activity

Two types of manganese oxides have been prepared by hydrolysis of tetranuclear Mn(iii) complexes in the presence or absence of phosphate ions. The oxides have been characterized structurally using X-ray absorption spectroscopy and functionally by O2 evolution measurements. The structures of the oxides prepared in the absence of phosphate are dominated by di-μ-oxo bridged manganese ions that form layers with limited long-range order, consisting of edge-sharing MnO6 octahedra. The average manganese oxidation state is +3.5. The structure of these oxides is closely related to other manganese oxides reported as water oxidation catalysts. They show high oxygen evolution activity in a light-driven system containing [Ru(bpy)3](2+) and S2O8(2-) at pH 7. In contrast, the oxides formed by hydrolysis in the presence of phosphate ions contain almost no di-μ-oxo bridged manganese ions. Instead the phosphate groups are acting as bridges between the manganese ions. The average oxidation state of manganese ions is +3. This type of oxide has much lower water oxidation activity in the light-driven system. Correlations between different structural motifs and the function as a water oxidation catalyst are discussed and the lower activity in the phosphate containing oxide is linked to the absence of protonable di-μ-oxo bridges.

Heterogeneous water oxidation: surface activity versus amorphization activation in cobalt phosphate catalysts

Is water oxidation catalyzed at the surface or within the bulk volume of solid oxide materials? This question is addressed for cobalt phosphate catalysts deposited on inert electrodes, namely crystallites of pakhomovskyite (Co3(PO4)2⋅8 H2O, Pak) and phosphate-containing Co oxide (CoCat). X-ray spectroscopy reveals that oxidizing potentials transform the crystalline Pak slowly (5-8 h) but completely into the amorphous CoCat. Electrochemical analysis supports high-TOF surface activity in Pak, whereas its amorphization results in dominating volume activity of the thereby formed CoCat material. In the directly electrodeposited CoCat, volume catalysis prevails, but not at very low levels of the amorphous material, implying high-TOF catalysis at surface sites. A complete picture of heterogeneous water oxidation requires insight in catalysis at the electrolyte-exposed "outer surface", within a hydrated, amorphous volume phase, and modes and kinetics of restructuring upon operation.

Covalent entrapment of cobalt-iron sulfides in N-doped mesoporous carbon: extraordinary bifunctional electrocatalysts for oxygen reduction and evolution reactions

To alleviate the kinetic barriers associated with ORR (oxygen reduction reaction) and OER (oxygen evolution reaction) in electrochemical systems, efficient nonprecious electrocatalysts are urgently required. Here we report a facile soft-template mediated approach for fabrication of nanostructured cobalt-iron double sulfides that are covalently entrapped in nitrogen-doped mesoporous graphitic carbon (Co0.5Fe0.5S@N-MC). Notably, with a positive half-wave potential (0.808 V) and a high diffusion-limiting current density, the composite material delivers unprecedentedly striking ORR electrocatalytic activity among recently reported nonprecious late transition metal chalcogenide materials in alkaline medium. Various characterization techniques, including X-ray absorption spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and X-ray diffraction, are conducted to elucidate the correlation between structural features and catalytic activities of the composite. Moderate substitution and well-dispersion of iron in bimetallic sulfide composites are believed to have positive effect on the adsorption and activation of oxygen-containing species, thus leading to conspicuous ORR and OER catalytic enhancement compared to their monometallic counterparts. Besides, the covalent bridge between active sulfide particles and mesoporous carbon shells provides facile pathways for electron and mass transport. Beneficially, the intimate coupling interaction renders prolonged electrocatalytic performances to the composite. Our results may possibly lend a new impetus to the rational design of bi- or multimetallic sulfides encapsulated in porous carbon with improved performance for electrocatalysis and energy storage applications.

Reduction-induced surface amorphization enhances the oxygen evolution activity in Co3O4

Modifying crystalline Co₃O₄ by thermal H₂ annealing and air exposure produced an amorphous surface layer consisting of mixed hydrated cobalt hydroxide/carbonate species and remarkably enhanced the oxygen evolution activity.

Catalytic Oxygen Evolution by Cobalt Oxido Thin Films

The contemporary demand to generate fuels from solar energy has stimulated intense effort to develop water splitting catalysts that can be coupled to light-absorbing materials. Cobalt oxido catalyst (Co-OECs) films deposited from buffered Co(II) solutions have emerged as arguably the most studied class of heterogeneous oxygen evolution catalysts. The interest in these materials stems from their formation by self-assembly, their self-healing properties, and their promising catalytic activity under a variety of conditions. The structure and function of these catalysts are reviewed here together with studies of molecular Co-O cluster compounds, which have proven invaluable in elucidating the chemistry of the Co-OECs.

Synthetic cluster models of biological and heterogeneous manganese catalysts for O2 evolution

Artificial photosynthesis has emerged as an important strategy toward clean and renewable fuels. Catalytic oxidation of water to O2 remains a significant challenge in this context. A mechanistic understanding of currently known heterogeneous and biological catalysts at a molecular level is highly desirable for fundamental reasons as well as for the rational design of practical catalysts. This Award Article discusses recent efforts in synthesizing structural models of the oxygen-evolving complex of photosystem II. These structural motifs are also related to heterogeneous mixed-metal oxide catalysts. A stepwise synthetic methodology was developed toward achieving the structural complexity of the targeted active sites. A geometrically restricted multinucleating ligand, but with labile coordination modes, was employed for the synthesis of low-oxidation-state trimetallic species. These precursors were elaborated to site-differentiated tetrametallic complexes in high oxidation states. This methodology has allowed for structure-reactivity studies that have offered insight into the effects of different components of the clusters. Mechanistic aspects of oxygen-atom transfer and incorporation from water have been interrogated. Significantly, a large and systematic effect of redox-inactive metals on the redox properties of these clusters was discovered. With the pKa value of the redox-inactive metal-aqua complex as a measure of the Lewis acidity, structurally analogous clusters display a linear dependence between the reduction potential and acidity; each pKa unit shifts the potential by ca. 90 mV. Implications for the function of the biological and heterogeneous catalysts are discussed.

Water oxidation by amorphous cobalt-based oxides: volume activity and proton transfer to electrolyte bases

Water oxidation in the neutral pH regime catalyzed by amorphous transition-metal oxides is of high interest in energy science. Crucial determinants of electrocatalytic activity were investigated for a cobalt-based oxide film electrodeposited at various thicknesses on inert electrodes. For water oxidation at low current densities, the turnover frequency (TOF) per cobalt ion of the bulk material stayed fully constant for variation of the thickness of the oxide film by a factor of 100 (from about 15 nm to 1.5 μm). Thickness variation changed neither the nanostructure of the outer film surface nor the atomic structure of the oxide catalyst significantly. These findings imply catalytic activity of the bulk hydrated oxide material. Nonclassical dependence on pH was observed. For buffered electrolytes with pKa values of the buffer base ranging from 4.7 (acetate) to 10.3 (hydrogen carbonate), the catalytic activity reflected the protonation state of the buffer base in the electrolyte solution directly and not the intrinsic catalytic properties of the oxide itself. It is proposed that catalysis of water oxidation occurs within the bulk hydrated oxide film at the margins of cobalt oxide fragments of molecular dimensions. At high current densities, the availability of a proton-accepting base at the catalyst-electrolyte interface controls the rate of water oxidation. The reported findings may be of general relevance for water oxidation catalyzed at moderate pH by amorphous transition-metal oxides.

Electrocatalytic oxygen evolution with an immobilized TAML activator

Iron complexes of tetra-amido macrocyclic ligands are important members of the suite of oxidation catalysts known as TAML activators. TAML activators are known to be fast homogeneous water oxidation (WO) catalysts, producing oxygen in the presence of chemical oxidants, e.g., ceric ammonium nitrate. These homogeneous systems exhibited low turnover numbers (TONs). Here we demonstrate immobilization on glassy carbon and carbon paper in an ink composed of the prototype TAML activator, carbon black, and Nafion and the subsequent use of this composition in heterogeneous electrocatalytic WO. The immobilized TAML system is shown to readily produce O2 with much higher TONs than the homogeneous predecessors.

What can density functional theory tell us about artificial catalytic water splitting?

Water splitting by artificial catalysts is a critical process in the production of hydrogen gas as an alternative fuel. In this paper, we examine the essential role of theoretical calculations, with particular focus on density functional theory (DFT), in understanding the water-splitting reaction on these catalysts. First, we present an overview of DFT thermochemical calculations on water-splitting catalysts, addressing how these calculations are adapted to condensed phases and room temperature. We show how DFT-derived chemical descriptors of reactivity can be surprisingly good estimators for reactive trends in water-splitting catalysts. Using this concept, we recover trends for bulk catalysts using simple model complexes for at least the first-row transition-metal oxides. Then, using the CoPi cobalt oxide catalyst as a case study, we examine the usefulness of simulation for predicting the kinetics of water splitting. We demonstrate that the appropriate treatment of solvent effects is critical for computing accurate redox potentials with DFT, which, in turn, determine the rate-limiting steps and electrochemical overpotentials. Finally, we examine the ability of DFT to predict mechanism, using ruthenium complexes as a focal point for discussion. Our discussion is intended to provide an overview of the current strengths and weaknesses of the state-of-the-art DFT methodologies for condensed-phase molecular simulation involving transition metals and also to guide future experiments and computations toward the understanding and development of novel water-splitting catalysts.

Dicobalt-μ-oxo polyoxometalate compound, [(α(2)-P2W17O61Co)2O](14-): a potent species for water oxidation, C-H bond activation, and oxygen transfer

High-valent oxo compounds of transition metals are often implicated as active species in oxygenation of hydrocarbons through carbon-hydrogen bond activation or oxygen transfer and also in water oxidation. Recently, several examples of cobalt-catalyzed water oxidation have been reported, and cobalt(IV) species have been suggested as active intermediates. A reactive species, formally a dicobalt(IV)-μ-oxo polyoxometalate compound [(α2-P2W17O61Co)2O](14-), [(POMCo)2O], has now been isolated and characterized by the oxidation of a monomeric [α2-P2W17O61Co(II)(H2O)](8-), [POMCo(II)H2O], with ozone in water. The crystal structure shows a nearly linear Co-O-Co moiety with a Co-O bond length of ∼1.77 Å. In aqueous solution [(POMCo)2O] was identified by (31)P NMR, Raman, and UV-vis spectroscopy. Reactivity studies showed that [(POMCo)2O]2O] is an active compound for the oxidation of H2O to O2, direct oxygen transfer to water-soluble sulfoxides and phosphines, indirect epoxidation of alkenes via a Mn porphyrin, and the selective oxidation of alcohols by carbon-hydrogen bond activation. The latter appears to occur via a hydrogen atom transfer mechanism. Density functional and CASSCF calculations strongly indicate that the electronic structure of [(POMCo)2O]2O] is best defined as a compound having two cobalt(III) atoms with two oxidized oxygen atoms.

Efficient chemical and visible-light-driven water oxidation using nickel complexes and salts as precatalysts

Chemical and visible-light-driven water oxidation catalyzed by a number of Ni complexes and salts have been investigated at pH 7-9 in borate buffer. For chemical oxidation, [Ru(bpy)3](3+) (bpy = 2,2'-bipyridine) was used as the oxidant, with turnover numbers (TONs) >65 and a maximum turnover frequency (TOFmax) >0.9 s(-1). Notably, simple Ni salts such as Ni(NO3 )2 are more active than Ni complexes that bear multidentate N-donor ligands. The Ni complexes and salts are also active catalysts for visible-light-driven water oxidation that uses [Ru(bpy)3](2+) as the photosensitizer and S2 O8 (2-) as the sacrificial oxidant; a TON>1200 was obtained at pH 8.5 by using Ni(NO3)2 as the catalyst. Dynamic light scattering measurements revealed the formation of nanoparticles in chemical and visible-light-driven water oxidation by the Ni catalysts. These nanoparticles aggregated during water oxidation to form submicron particles that were isolated and shown to be partially reduced β-NiOOH by various techniques, which include SEM, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, XRD, and IR spectroscopy. These results suggest that the Ni complexes and salts act as precatalysts that decompose under oxidative conditions to form an active nickel oxide catalyst. The nature of this active oxide catalyst is discussed.

Heterometallic triiron-oxo/hydroxo clusters: effect of redox-inactive metals

A series of tetranuclear oxo/hydroxo clusters comprised of three Fe centers and a redox-inactive metal (M) of various charge is reported. Crystallographic studies show an unprecedented Fe3M(μ4-O)(μ2-OH) core that remains intact upon changing M or the oxidation state of iron. Electrochemical studies reveal that the reduction potentials (E1/2) span a window of 500 mV and depend upon the Lewis acidity of M. Using the pKa of the M-aqua complex as a measure of Lewis acidity, these compounds display a linear dependence between E1/2 and acidity, with a slope of ∼70 mV per pKa unit. The current study of [Fe3MO(OH)] and previous ones of [Mn3MOn] (n = 2,4) moieties support the generality of the above relationship between the reduction potentials of heterometallic oxido clusters and the Lewis acidity of incorporated cations, as applied to clusters of different redox-active metals.

Energetics of Water Oxidation Catalyzed by Cobalt Oxide Nanoparticles: Assessing the Accuracy of DFT and DFT+U Approaches against Coupled Cluster Methods

Some of the most promising catalysts for water oxidation rely on crystalline and amorphous cobalt oxide nanoparticles. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations are routinely used to study the electronic and atomic structures of these materials as well as the thermodynamics and mechanisms of the electrochemical oxygen evolution reaction. The accuracy of these theoretical predictions has never been compared to high-level quantum chemistry methods. We perform coupled cluster (CC) quantum chemistry calculations on model cobalt oxide surface sites and use them to benchmark the accuracy of the most popular exchange and correlation functionals. Hybrid B3LYP and PBE0 functionals lead to fair agreement with the CC energies, while standard gradient-corrected functionals show important discrepancies. The inclusion of on-site electronic repulsion (DFT+U) substantially improves the calculated electronic and structural properties, but no value of the U parameter reproduces the CC results. We discuss the implications of these findings for amorphous cobalt phosphate nanoparticles, showing that the reactivity of these catalysts is not altered by surface phosphate groups.

Reaction pathways for oxygen evolution promoted by cobalt catalyst

The in-depth understanding of the molecular mechanisms regulating the water oxidation catalysis is of key relevance for the rationalization and the design of efficient oxygen evolution catalysts based on earth-abundant transition metals. Performing ab initio DFT+U molecular dynamics calculations of cluster models in explicit water solution, we provide insight into the pathways for oxygen evolution of a cobalt-based catalyst (CoCat). The fast motion of protons at the CoCat/water interface and the occurrence of cubane-like Co-oxo units at the catalyst boundaries are the keys to unlock the fast formation of O-O bonds. Along the resulting pathways, we identified the formation of Co(IV)-oxyl species as the driving ingredient for the activation of the catalytic mechanism, followed by their geminal coupling with O atoms coordinated by the same Co. Concurrent nucleophilic attack of water molecules coming directly from the water solution is discouraged by high activation barriers. The achieved results suggest also interesting similarities between the CoCat and the Mn4Ca-oxo oxygen evolving complex of photosystem II.

Reduction potentials of heterometallic manganese-oxido cubane complexes modulated by redox-inactive metals

Understanding the effect of redox-inactive metals on the properties of biological and heterogeneous water oxidation catalysts is important both fundamentally and for improvement of future catalyst designs. In this work, heterometallic manganese-oxido cubane clusters [MMn3O4] (M = Sr(2+), Zn(2+), Sc(3+), Y(3+)) structurally relevant to the oxygen-evolving complex (OEC) of photosystem II were prepared and characterized. The reduction potentials of these clusters and other related mixed metal manganese-tetraoxido complexes are correlated with the Lewis acidity of the apical redox-inactive metal in a manner similar to a related series of heterometallic manganese-dioxido clusters. The redox potentials of the [SrMn3O4] and [CaMn3O4] clusters are close, which is consistent with the observation that the OEC is functional only with one of these two metals. Considering our previous studies of [MMn3O2] moieties, the present results with more structurally accurate models of the OEC ([MMn3O4]) suggest a general relationship between the reduction potentials of heterometallic oxido clusters and the Lewis acidities of incorporated cations that applies to diverse structural motifs. These findings support proposals that one function of calcium in the OEC is to modulate the reduction potential of the cluster to allow electron transfer.

Redox-inactive metals modulate the reduction potential in heterometallic manganese-oxido clusters

Redox-inactive metals are found in biological and heterogeneous water oxidation catalysts, but their roles in catalysis are currently not well understood. A series of high oxidation state tetranuclear-dioxido clusters comprised of three manganese centers and a redox-inactive metal (M) of various charge is reported. Crystallographic studies show an unprecedented Mn₃M(μ₄-O)(μ₂-O) core that remains intact upon changing M or the manganese oxidation state. Electrochemical studies reveal that the reduction potentials span a window of 700 mV, dependent upon the Lewis acidity of the second metal. With the pK_a of the redox-inactive metal-aqua complex as a measure of Lewis acidity, these compounds display a linear dependence between reduction potential and acidity with a slope of ca. 100 mV per pK_a unit. The Sr²⁺ and Ca²⁺ compounds show similar potentials, an observation that correlates with the behavior of the OEC, which is active only in the presence of one of these two metals.

Effects of aqueous buffers on electrocatalytic water oxidation with an iridium oxide material electrodeposited in thin layers from an organometallic precursor

A thin layer of an amorphous, mixed-valence iridium oxide (electrodeposited from an organometallic precursor, [Cp*Ir(H(2)O)(3)](2+)) is a heterogeneous catalyst among the most active and stable currently available for electrochemical water oxidation. We show that buffers can improve the oxygen-evolution activity of such thin-layer catalysts near neutral pH, but that buffer identity and concentration, as well as the solution pH, remain key determinants of long-term electrocatalyst activity and stability; for example, phosphate buffer can reduce the overpotential by up to 173 mV.