The dominant approach to most efficient electrocatalytic processes to date has been empirical and oriented toward traditional heterogeneous catalysts comprised of solid-state materials dispersed within the porous electrode materials. Such work, while resulting in the development of new catalysts, is unlikely to lead to the deeper understanding and precise tuning of required reactivity that will be necessary to bring the operating voltages significantly closer to the reversible values. Our approach consists of attaching synthetic redox catalyst to planar electrodes for preparation of well-defined single site hybrid materials. We hope this approach will allow us to study their intrinsic catalytic properties and how the catalyst modification improves the electrocatalytic performance of the solid state material. A deeper mechanistic understanding will help in the development of more complex electrode structures. In this talk, characterization and catalysis of a hydrogen-evolving electrocatalysts covalently attached to a glassy carbon electrode will be discussed. The effect of surface attachment on catalysis rate and overpotential will also be discussed, based on comparing homogeneous vs. surface-bound catalytic results measured in the same solvent and electrode material.

Molecular electrocatalysts on a surface: When organometallic chemistry meets surface science

249th National Meeting (2015)

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