A noble-metal-free, tetra-nickel polyoxotungstate catalyst for efficient photocatalytic hydrogen evolution

Hongjin Lv, Weiwei Guo, Kaifeng Wu, Zheyuan Chen, John Bacsa, Djamaladdin G. Musaev, Yurii V. Geletii, Sarah M. Lauinger, Tianquan Lian, Craig L. Hill*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

216 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

A tetra-nickel-containing polyoxotungstate, Na6K4[Ni4(H2O)2(PW9O34)2]·32H2O (Na6K4-Ni4P2), has been synthesized in high yield and systematically characterized. The X-ray crystal structure confirms that a tetra-nickel cluster core [Ni4O14] is sandwiched by two trivacant, heptadentate [PW9O34]9- POM ligands. When coupled with (4,4'-di-tert-butyl-2,2'-dipyridyl)-bis(2-phenylpyridine(1H))-iridium(III) hexafluorophosphate [Ir(ppy)2(dtbbpy)][PF6] as photosensitizer and triethanolamine (TEOA) as sacrificial electron donor, the noble-metal-free complex Ni4P2 works as an efficient and robust molecular catalyst for H2 production upon visible light irradiation. Under minimally optimized conditions, Ni4P2 catalyzes H2 production over 1 week and achieves a turnover number (TON) of as high as 6500 with almost no loss in activity. Mechanistic studies (emission quenching, time-resolved fluorescence decay, and transient absorption spectroscopy) confirm that, under visible light irradiation, the excited state [Ir(ppy)2(dtbbpy)]+∗ can be both oxidatively and reductively quenched by Ni4P2 and TEOA, respectively. Extensive stability studies (e.g., UV-vis absorption, FT-IR, mercury-poison test, dynamic light scattering (DLS) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM)) provide very strong evidence that Ni4P2 catalyst remains homogeneous and intact under turnover conditions.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)14015-14018
Number of pages4
JournalJournal of the American Chemical Society
Volume136
Issue number40
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 8 Oct 2014
Externally publishedYes

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