Modification of Wide-Band-Gap Oxide Semiconductors with Cobalt Hydroxide Nanoclusters for Visible-Light Water Oxidation

Cobalt-based compounds, such as cobalt(II) hydroxide, are known to be good catalysts for water oxidation. Herein, we report that such cobalt species can also activate wide-band-gap semiconductors towards visible-light water oxidation. Rutile TiO2 powder, a well-known wide-band-gap semiconductor, was capable of harvesting visible light with wavelengths of up to 850 nm, and thus catalyzed water oxidation to produce molecular oxygen, when decorated with cobalt(II) hydroxide nanoclusters. To the best of our knowledge, this system constitutes the first example that a particulate photocatalytic material that is capable of water oxidation upon excitation by visible light can also operate at such long wavelengths, even when it is based on earth-abundant elements only.