New Molecule Able to Harness Entire Visible Spectrum
RandomFactor writes:
Researchers at Ohio State University have published details in the journal Nature Chemistry on a molecule that efficiently absorbs light across the visible spectrum (and into both the ultraviolet and infrared) and catalyzes the production of Hydrogen.
The scientists demonstrate
a new, air-stable bimetallic scaffold that acts as a single-chromophore photocatalyst for hydrogen-gas generation and operates with irradiation wavelengths that span the ultraviolet to the red/near-infrared. Irradiation in acidic solutions that contain an electron donor results in the catalytic production of hydrogen with 170""5 turnovers in 24 hours and an initial rate of 28 turnovers per hour. The catalysis proceeds through two stepwise excited-state redox events-atypical of the currently known homogeneous photocatalysis-and features the storage of multiple redox equivalents on a dirhodium catalyst enabled by low-energy light.
Current single-molecule photocatalysts are rare, inefficient, and don't use much of the visible light spectrum.
Most previous efforts to make full use of the sunlight spectrum have focused on ultraviolet light, and most relied on catalysts made of two or more molecules to convert solar energy into hydrogen. Attempts to use a single-molecule catalyst proved inefficient.
Rhodium however is expensive to process and the researchers are searching for a less expensive molecule which behaves similarly.
Journal Reference
Whittemore, T.J., Xue, C., Huang, J. et al. Single-chromophore single-molecule photocatalyst for the production of dihydrogen using low-energy light. Nat. Chem. (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41557-019-0397-4
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