Bioinspired molecular clusters for water oxidation
Qi‐Fa Chen, Yu‐Hua Guo, Yi-Han Yu, Ming‐Tian Zhang
Abstract
Water oxidation (2 H 2 O → 4H + + 4 e - + O 2 ) is a key step in utilization of solar energy for producing hydrogen of artificial photosynthetic system. Inspired by the oxygen evolution complex (OEC) in PSII , molecular catalysts are extensively studied and the progress both in biomimetic studies and the mechanistic understanding is truly remarkable. While research efforts in the earlier years focused on the Ru-, Mn- and Ir-based complexes, the focus has gradually changed to non-precious catalysts based on earth-abundant metals (Fe, Co, Ni, Cu). These studies have deepened our understanding on the mechanism of water oxidation, including both proton-coupled electron transfer and O-O bond formation. Herein, we briefly review the research progress surrounding the construction of the OEC-like catalytic systems as well as bioinspired multi-nuclear catalysts for water oxidation.