Efficient Light-Driven Water Oxidation Catalysis by Dinuclear Ruthenium Complexes.

Serena Berardi, Laia Francàs, Sven Neudeck, Somnath Maji, Jordi Benet-Buchholz, Franc Meyer, Antoni Llobet

Index: ChemSusChem 8 , 3688-96, (2015)

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Abstract

Mastering the light-induced four-electron oxidation of water to molecular oxygen is a key step towards the achievement of overall water splitting to produce alternative solar fuels. In this work, we report two rugged molecular pyrazolate-based diruthenium complexes that efficiently catalyze visible-light-driven water oxidation. These complexes were fully characterized both in the solid state (by X-ray diffraction analysis) and in solution (spectroscopically and electrochemically). Benchmark performances for homogeneous oxygen production have been obtained for both catalysts in the presence of a photosensitizer and a sacrificial electron acceptor at pH 7, and a turnover frequency of up to 11.1 s(-1) and a turnover number of 5300 were obtained after three successive catalytic runs. Under the same experimental conditions with the same setup, the pyrazolate-based diruthenium complexes outperform other well-known water oxidation catalysts owing to both electrochemical and mechanistic aspects. © 2015 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.