A major hurdle to solar derived fuels is water oxidation to generate dioxygen, which is a thermodynamically costly process requiring 1.23 eV to overcome.  In photosynthetic organisms, Nature accomplishes this transformation likely using an electrophilic Mn=O adduct which is attacked by the nucleophile water. While many synthetic models exist that perform this reaction, late transition metal water oxidation catalysts are much rarer. In this poster, we will present spectroscopic and electrochemical characterization of a dicopper dihydroxide complex that affords oxygen under electrocatalytic conditions. This complex in aqueous solution is a pH dependent mixture of dinuclear and mononuclear species. Recent results to disentangle the role of these two species during catalysis will be presented.

Characterization of a dicopper dihydroxide water oxidation electrocatalyst

253rd National Meeting (2017)

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