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Towards the Construction of a Complete Cyclic Water Decomposition System, Design and Operation of an Oxygen Producing Half Cell
Author(s) -
Kalyanasundaram Kuppuswamy,
Mićić Olga,
Pramauro Edmondo,
Grätzel Michael
Publication year - 1979
Publication title -
helvetica chimica acta
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.74
H-Index - 82
eISSN - 1522-2675
pISSN - 0018-019X
DOI - 10.1002/hlca.19790620738
Subject(s) - chemistry , aqueous solution , dissolution , oxygen , oxygen evolution , stoichiometry , catalysis , decomposition , yield (engineering) , cobalt , colloid , inorganic chemistry , electrochemistry , organic chemistry , thermodynamics , electrode , physics
Oxygen is generated when aqueous solution of iron (III) tris(2,2′‐bipyridyl), Fe(bipy) 3 3+ , are brought in contact with catalytic amounts of powdered or colloidal RuO 2 . The oxygen yield depends strongly on the pH, reaching a maximum between pH 7 and 8 where it corresponds to the stoichiometry of the reaction:The rate of the reaction is so fast that it occurs practically upon dissolution of Fe(bipy) 3 3+in the aqueous phase. In acidic media (pH 4), no O 2 evolution is observed. Instead, Fe(bipy) 3 3+is converted to an intermediate which in the presence of RuO 2 yields O 2 upon neutralization. The pH profile of the O 2 evolution occuring upon illumination of Ru(bipy) 3 2+in the presence of the cobalt complex [Co(NH 3 ) 5 Cl] 2+ was also investigated. The surprisingly low energy losses (160 mV) in reaction (1) makes the construction of four quanta water splitting systems feasible.