The water oxidation reaction occurs at the extraordinary high catalytic activity in the naturally occurring photosynthetic Mn centre. However, synthetic manganese compounds are quite inefficient for this oxidation reaction and it hampers the utilization of inexpensive and abundant Mn oxides as a component for artificial photosynthesis. In this presentation, based on the recent finding that surface-associated Mn(III) serves as the rate-determining intermediate species for electrooxidation of water by Mn oxides, the author discusses the plausible origin of the remarkable difference in catalytic activity between the photosynthetic and the synthetic Mn catalysts. The author also discusses the way to couple O2-evolving Mn-oxide catalysts to CO2 reducing units to accomplish fuel production under visible light irradiation.

Multielectron oxidation of water mediated by Mn oxides: Mechanism and visible-light sensitization for artificial photosynthesis

245th National Meeting (2013)

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