Iron and cobalt corroles in solution and on carbon nanotubes as molecular photocatalysts for hydrogen production by water reduction

MORALES VÁSQUEZ, MIGUEL A.; HAMER, MARIANA; NEUMAN, NICOLAS I.; TESIO, ALVARO Y.; HUNT, ANDRÉS; BOGO, HORACIO; CALVO, ERNESTO J.; DOCTOROVICH, FABIO

CHEMCATCHEM

WILEY-V C H VERLAG GMBH

Año: 2017

1867-3880

Here we report the use of cobalt and iron corrole complexes as catalysts of H2O reduction to generate H2. Electro and photocatalysis has been used in the case of dissolved corroles for water reduction with inspiring results. Carbon nanotubes doped with corroles were used as photo-electrochemical catalysts allowing getting very low overpotential values and increased hydrogen production, achieving incredibly high turnover numbers and turnover frequencies of ca. 107 and 105, respectively. Through this last process we were able to obtain 1mmol of H2 by using minuscule amounts of catalyst, in the order of pictograms. The reactions can be carried out in water, without the need of organic solvents. Remarkably, the photoelectrochemical catalytic efficiency was increased by five orders of magnitude when adsorbing the molecular catalysts onto carbon nanotubes.