Molecular Catalysts for Water Splitting and Oxygen Reduction
This community designs and studies molecular catalysts—primarily metal complexes—that drive the electrochemical splitting of water into hydrogen and oxygen, and the reduction of oxygen to water. The work aims to understand and improve the fundamental electron and proton transfer steps required for efficient energy conversion.
The research focuses heavily on cobalt, manganese, and nickel complexes, with porphyrins and other ligand scaffolds serving as common structural frameworks. Key reactions include water oxidation, hydrogen evolution, and oxygen reduction, often studied in the context of artificial photosynthesis and bio-inspired catalysis. The work frequently involves tuning the coordination environment of these metals to optimize their activity and stability in electrochemical environments.
The community is most prominent in research involving manganese, where it accounts for 2.1% of all tracked manganese papers, and ruthenium, representing 1.5% of that element's research. It also constitutes a significant portion of cobalt research, making up 1.1% of the total. In terms of raw volume, the community contains 2,831 papers related to manganese, 2,961 to hydrogen, and 2,859 to oxygen.
The community comprises 13,175 papers, with the majority published in Inorganic Chemistry, the Journal of the American Chemical Society, and Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA) - Bioenergetics.
Recent work continues to refine the electronic and steric properties of cobalt and iron porphyrins for oxygen reduction, while also exploring the engineering of electron relays in [FeFe]-hydrogenase models to enhance hydrogen evolution efficiency.