Visible light induced oxidation of water by rare earth manganites, cobaltites and related oxides

A study of the visible light induced oxidation of water by perovskite oxides of the formula LaMO3 (M = transition metal) has revealed the best activity with LaCoO3 which contains Co3+ in the intermediate-spin (IS) with one e(g) electron. Among the rare earth manganites, only orthorhombic manganites with octahedral Mn3+ ions exhibit good catalytic activity, but hexagonal manganites are poor catalysts. Interestingly, not only the perovskite rare earth cobaltites but also solid solutions of Co3+ in cubic rare earth sesquioxides exhibit catalytic activity comparable to LaCoO3, the Co3+ ion in all these oxides also being in the IS t(2g)(5)e(g)(1) state. (C) 2013 Elsevier B. V. All rights reserved.