Bimetallic water oxidation: One-site catalysis with two-sites oxidation

Water oxidation is the key half reaction to achieve full splitting of water to hydrogen and oxygen. Herein, a binuclear complex, [(L4-)Co-2(III) (OH)]ClO4, was reported as a stable and efficient homogenous catalyst for electrocatalytic water oxidation in 0.1 M phosphate buffer (pH 7.0). Cyclic voltammetry experiments indicated that the catalytic process proceed via one-site catalysis with two-sites oxidation mechanism in which both two metal sites store the required oxidation equivalents for water oxidation and O-O bond formation occurs by single-site water nucleophilic attack (WNA). (C) 2021 Science Press and Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Published by ELSEVIER B.V. and Science Press. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

A binuclear complex was reported as a stable and efficient homogeneous catalyst for electrocatalytic water oxidation, operating via a one-site catalysis with two-sites oxidation mechanism. The O-O bond formation was found to occur by single-site water nucleophilic attack.