Nanolayered manganese oxide/poly(4-vinylpyridine) as a biomimetic and very efficient water oxidizing catalyst: toward an artificial enzyme in artificial photosynthesis

Nanolayered Mn oxide/poly(4-vinylpyridine) as a model for Mn cluster in photosystem II was synthesized and characterized using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), dynamic light scattering (DLS), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and UV-Visible spectroscopy (UV-Vis). The compound is a very efficient water oxidizing catalyst, and sizable oxygen evolution was detected at 50 mV overpotential at near neutral pH. The number is as low as the overpotential is used by nature in photosystem II of cyanobacteria, algae and green plants for similar reactions.