Analysis of the Active Species Responsible for Water Oxidation Using a Pentanuclear Fe Complex
Primavera Pelosin,
Marcos Gil-Sepulcre,
Pablo Garrido-Barros,
Dooshaye Moonshiram,
Jordi Benet-Buchholz,
Carolina Gimbert-Suriñach,
Antoni Llobet
Affiliations
Primavera Pelosin
Institute of Chemical Research of Catalonia (ICIQ), The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology (BIST), Avinguda Països Catalans 16, Tarragona 43007, Spain
Marcos Gil-Sepulcre
Institute of Chemical Research of Catalonia (ICIQ), The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology (BIST), Avinguda Països Catalans 16, Tarragona 43007, Spain
Pablo Garrido-Barros
Institute of Chemical Research of Catalonia (ICIQ), The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology (BIST), Avinguda Països Catalans 16, Tarragona 43007, Spain
Dooshaye Moonshiram
Instituto Madrileño de Estudios Avanzados en Nanociencia (IMDEA-Nanociencia), Calle Faraday 9, Madrid 28049, Spain
Jordi Benet-Buchholz
Institute of Chemical Research of Catalonia (ICIQ), The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology (BIST), Avinguda Països Catalans 16, Tarragona 43007, Spain
Carolina Gimbert-Suriñach
Institute of Chemical Research of Catalonia (ICIQ), The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology (BIST), Avinguda Països Catalans 16, Tarragona 43007, Spain
Antoni Llobet
Institute of Chemical Research of Catalonia (ICIQ), The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology (BIST), Avinguda Països Catalans 16, Tarragona 43007, Spain; Departament de Química, Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, Cerdanyola del Valles, Barcelona 08193, Spain; Corresponding author
Summary: Water splitting with sunlight is today one of the most promising strategies that can be used to start the imperatively needed transition from fossil to solar fuels. To achieve this, one of the key reactions that need to be mastered is the electrocatalytic oxidation of water to dioxygen. Great developments have been achieved using transition metal complexes mainly based on Ru, but for technological applications it is highly desirable to be able to use earth-abundant transition metals. The intrinsic chemistry of first row transition metals and in particular the lability of their M-L bonds in water imposes serious challenges for the latter to work as real molecular catalysts. The present work addresses this issue based on a molecular pentanuclear Fe5 complex and describes the different protocols and tests that need to be carried out in order to identify the real active species, responsible for the generation of dioxygen.
