Building upon recent study of cobalt-oxide electrocatalysts in fluoride-buffered electrolyte at pH 3.4, we have undertaken a mechanistic investigation of cobalt-catalyzed water oxidation in aqueous buffering electrolytes from pH 0-14. This work includes electrokinetic studies, cyclic voltammetric analysis, and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopic studies. The results illuminate a set of interrelated mechanisms for electrochemical water oxidation in alkaline, neutral, and acidic media with electrodeposited Co-oxide catalyst films (CoO(x)(cf)s) as well as for a homogeneous Co-catalyzed electrochemical water oxidation reaction. Analysis of the pH dependence of quasi-reversible features in cyclic voltammograms of the CoO(x)(cf)s provides the basis for a Pourbaix diagram that closely resembles a Pourbaix diagram derived from thermodynamic free energies of formation for a family of Co-based layered materials. Below pH 3, a shift from heterogeneous catalysis producing O(2) to homogeneous catalysis yielding H(2)O(2) is observed. Collectively, the results reported here provide a foundation for understanding the structure, stability, and catalytic activity of aqueous cobalt electrocatalysts for water oxidation.

No abstract

Several substituted iron-porphyrin complexes were evaluated for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) electrocatalysis in different homogeneous and heterogeneous media. The selectivity for four-electron reduction to H2O versus two-electron reduction to H2O2 varies substantially from one medium to another for a given catalyst. In many cases, the influence of the medium in which the catalyst is evaluated has a larger effect on the observed selectivity than the factors attributable to chemical modification of the catalyst. For instance, introduction of potential proton relays has variable effects depending on the catalyst medium. Thus, comparisons of selectivity results from supported and soluble molecular ORR electrocatalysts must be interpreted with caution, as selectivity is a property not only of the catalyst, but also of the larger mesoscale environment beyond the catalyst. Still, in all the direct pairwise comparisons in the same medium, the catalysts with potential proton relays have similar or better selectivity for the preferred 4e(-) path.

We demonstrate a modular "click"-based functionalization scheme that allows inexpensive conductive diamond samples to serve as an ultrastable platform for surface-tethered electrochemically active molecules stable out to ∼1.3 V vs Ag/AgCl. We have cycled surface-tethered Ru(tpy)(2) to this potential more than 1 million times with little or no degradation in propylene carbonate and only slightly reduced stability in water and acetonitrile.

We demonstrate the use of "click" chemistry to form electrochemically and photoelectrochemically active molecular interfaces to SnO(2) nanoparticle thin films. By using photochemical grafting to link a short-chain alcohol to the surface followed by conversion to a surface azide group, we enable use of the Cu(I)-catalyzed azide-alkyne [3 + 2] cycloaddition (CuAAC) reaction, a form of "click" chemistry, on metal oxide surfaces. Results are shown with three model compounds to test the surface chemistry and subsequent ability to achieve electrochemical and photoelectrochemical charge transfer. Surface-tethered ferrocene groups exhibit good electron-transfer characteristics with thermal rates estimated at >1000 s(-1). Time-resolved surface photovoltage measurements using a ruthenium terpyridyl coordination compound demonstrate photoelectron charge transfer on time scales of nanoseconds or less, limited by the laser pulse width. The results demonstrate that the CuAAC "click" reaction can be used to form electrochemically and photoelectrochemically active molecular interfaces to SnO(2) and other metal oxide semiconductors.