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Visible Light‐Driven Hydrogen Evolution from Aqueous Solution in a Noble‐Metal‐Free System Catalyzed by a Cobalt Phthalocyanine
Author(s) -
Luo GengGeng,
Li XiaoCong,
Wang JiangHai
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
chemistryselect
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.437
H-Index - 34
ISSN - 2365-6549
DOI - 10.1002/slct.201600098
Subject(s) - catalysis , cobalt , phthalocyanine , photochemistry , aqueous solution , noble metal , hydrogen production , chemistry , water splitting , hydrogen , xanthene , artificial photosynthesis , inorganic chemistry , photocatalysis , organic chemistry
Solar‐driven hydrogen evolution from water has emerged as an important methodology for the storage of renewable energy in chemical bonds. Efficient photochemical splitting of water requires the highly active and low‐cost hydrogen‐evolving catalysts, which remains a significant challenge. After screening a series of metallophthalocyanines (MPcs), the macrocyclic cobalt phthalocyanine (CoPc) is found to be an active catalyst for visible light‐driven H 2 production under basic conditions (pH=12.0) in water/ethanol mixed solvent when employed with xanthene dyes as the photosensitizers (PSs) and triethylamine (TEA) as the sacrificial electron donor. The noble‐metal‐free system gives the highest TON of 2650 with respect to the catalyst, corresponding to a TOF of ca . 810 h −1 . By means of UV/vis and fluorescent spectroscopy as well as computational studies and electrochemistry, a possible catalytic mechanism of the hydrogen‐generating reaction involving organo hydrides not cobalt hydrides was proposed. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first example of utilizing a cobalt phthalocyanine as molecular catalyst for the photogeneration of hydrogen from water.