Efficient Hydrogen Production at pH 7 in Water with a Heterogeneous Electrocatalyst Based on a Neutral Dimeric Cobalt-Dithiolene Complex
Abstract
The development of efficient hydrogen production technologies is fundamental for replacing fossil fuel-based energies. As such, electrocatalysts derived from earth abundant metal complexes are appealing, and interesting performances have typically been disclosed under acidic conditions in organic solvents. However, their applicability under relevant pH neutral conditions is underexplored. Herein, we demonstrate that non-ionic, dimeric cobalt-dithiolene complexes supported on multi-wall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs)/carbon paper (CP) electrode are powerful electrocatalysts for hydrogen production in aqueous media at pH 7. The high turnover numbers encountered (TON up to 50980) after long reaction times (up to 16 hours) are reasoned by the increased electro-active cobalt concentration on the modified electrode, which is ca. 4 times higher than that of a state-of-the-art cobalt porphyrin electrocatalyst. These findings point out that immobilizing well-defined, multinuclear low cost metal complexes on carbon material is a promising strategy to design highly electroactive electrodes enabling production of green energies.
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