Fossil fuel resources are believed to diminish in 60 years even if they are used efficiently. Approximately 88% of the world's energy comes from fossil fuels (coal, oil and natural gas). Inevitably, new renewable energy sources must be developed to overcome the energy crisis. In this work, we report a zeolite-supported cobalt catalyst for water oxidation in artificial photosynthetic systems. A novel three step synthesis process for the deposition of cobalt onto the zeolite surface was developed. XRD and XPS confirm the presence of a Co2+ catalyst which is presumed to be a hydroxide. Photocatalytic studies show higher dioxygen evolution rates (2.26 �moles/min) for the synthesized catalyst compared zeolite-supported Co3O4 (0.61 �moles/min). Raman studies reveal that the cobalt (II) catalyst slowly oxidizes with time to Co3O4 at ambient conditions.  Changing the basicity of the support has a direct impact on the catalytic activity being acidic support the optimal substrates.

Novel cobalt deposition synthesis for water oxidation in artificial photosynthetic systems

245th National Meeting (2013)

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.