TY  - JOUR
A1  - Gil-Sepulcre, Marcos
A1  - Lindner, Joachim O.
A1  - Schindler, Dorothee
A1  - Velasco, Lucía
A1  - Moonshiram, Dooshaye
A1  - Rüdiger, Olaf
A1  - DeBeer, Serena
A1  - Stepanenko, Vladimir
A1  - Solano, Eduardo
A1  - Würthner, Frank
A1  - Llobet, Antoni
T1  - Surface-promoted evolution of Ru-bda coordination oligomers boosts the efficiency of water oxidation molecular anodes
JF  - Journal of the American Chemical Society
N2  - A new Ru oligomer of formula {[Ru-\(^{II}\)(bda-\(\kappa\)-N\(^2\)O\(^2\))(4,4'-bpy)]\(_{10}\)(4,4'-bpy)}, 10 (bda is [2,2'-bipyridine]-6,6'-dicarbox-ylate and 4,4'-bpy is 4,4'-bipyridine), was synthesized and thoroughly characterized with spectroscopic, X-ray, and electrochemical techniques. This oligomer exhibits strong affinity for graphitic materials through CH-\(\pi\) interactions and thus easily anchors on multiwalled carbon nanotubes (CNT), generating the molecular hybrid material 10@CNT. The latter acts as a water oxidation catalyst and converts to a new species, 10'(H\(_2\)O)\(_2\)@CNT, during the electrochemical oxygen evolution process involving solvation and ligand reorganization facilitated by the interactions of molecular Ru catalyst and the surface. This heterogeneous system has been shown to be a powerful and robust molecular hybrid anode for electrocatalytic water oxidation into molecular oxygen, achieving current densities in the range of 200 mA/cm\(^2\) at pH 7 under an applied potential of 1.45 V vs NHE. The remarkable long-term stability of this hybrid material during turnover is rationalized based on the supramolecular interaction of the catalyst with the graphitic surface.
KW  - electrodes
KW  - ligands
KW  - oligomers
KW  - surface interactions
KW  - water oxidation
Y1  - 2021
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-351514
VL  - 143
IS  - 30
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Meza-Chincha, Ana-Lucia
A1  - Lindner, Joachim O.
A1  - Schindler, Dorothee
A1  - Schmidt, David
A1  - Krause, Ana-Maria
A1  - Röhr, Merle I. S.
A1  - Mitrić, Roland
A1  - Würthner, Frank
T1  - Impact of substituents on molecular properties and catalytic activities of trinuclear Ru macrocycles in water oxidation
N2  - Herein we report a broad series of new trinuclear supramolecular Ru(bda) macrocycles bearing different substituents at the axial or equatorial ligands which enabled investigation of substituent effects on the catalytic activities in chemical and photocatalytic water oxidation. Our detailed investigations revealed that the activities of these functionalized macrocycles in water oxidation are significantly affected by the position at which the substituents were introduced. Interestingly, this effect could not be explained based on the redox properties of the catalysts since these are not markedly influenced by the functionalization of the ligands. Instead, detailed investigations by X-ray crystal structure analysis and theoretical simulations showed that conformational changes imparted by the substituents are responsible for the variation of catalytic activities of the Ru macrocycles. For the first time, macrocyclic structure of this class of water oxidation catalysts is unequivocally confirmed and experimental indication for a hydrogen-bonded water network present in the cavity of the macrocycles is provided by crystal structure analysis. We ascribe the high catalytic efficiency of our Ru(bda) macrocycles to cooperative proton abstractions facilitated by such a network of preorganized water molecules in their cavity, which is reminiscent of catalytic activities of enzymes at active sites.
KW  - water oxidation
KW  - self-assembly
KW  - solar fuels
KW  - supramolecular materials
KW  - catalysis
Y1  - 2020
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-204653
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1039/D0SC01097A
SN  - 2041-6539
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Schindler, Dorothee
A1  - Gil‐Sepulcre, Marcos
A1  - Lindner, Joachim O.
A1  - Stepanenko, Vladimir
A1  - Moonshiram, Dooshaye
A1  - Llobet, Antoni
A1  - Würthner, Frank
T1  - Efficient Electrochemical Water Oxidation by a Trinuclear Ru(bda) Macrocycle Immobilized on Multi‐Walled Carbon Nanotube Electrodes
JF  - Advanced Energy Materials
N2  - Catalytic water splitting is a viable process for the generation of renewable fuels. Here it is reported for the first time that a trinuclear supramolecular Ru(bda) (bda: 2,2′‐bipyridine‐6,6′‐dicarboxylate) catalyst, anchored on multi‐walled carbon nanotubes and subsequently immobilized on glassy carbon electrodes, shows outstanding performance in heterogeneous water oxidation. Activation of the catalyst on anodes by repetitive cyclic voltammetry (CV) scans results in a catalytic current density of 186 mA cm\(^{−2}\) at a potential of 1.45 V versus NHE. The activated catalyst performs water oxidation at an onset overpotential of 330 mV. The remarkably high stability of the hybrid anode is demonstrated by X‐ray absorption spectroscopy and electrochemically, revealing the absence of any degradation after 1.8 million turnovers. Foot of the wave analysis of CV data of activated electrodes with different concentrations of catalyst indicates a monomolecular water nucleophilic attack mechanism with an apparent rate constant of TOFmax (turnover frequency) of 3200 s\(^{−1}\).
KW  - electrocatalysis
KW  - heterogeneous catalysis
KW  - renewable fuels
KW  - ruthenium bda complexes
KW  - water splitting
Y1  - 2020
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-218381
VL  - 10
IS  - 43
ER  -