ELECTROCHEMICAL WATER-SPLITTING CATALYSED BY FIRST-ROW TRANSITION METAL COMPLEXES

Abstract

Water-splitting via electrolysis is one of the most promising technology to generate clean and renewable fuel in alleviating fossil fuel depletion and climate change. However, large-scale utilization of this technology is limited by the availability of a cheap and efficient catalyst to facilitate the process without high energy input. First-row transition metal complexes have been demonstrated to be potential candidates for cheap water-splitting catalysis, but these artificial catalysts are not as efficient compared to the biological enzymes. This thesis aims to prepare more efficient catalysts for water-splitting by exploring new complexes while drawing some inspirations from the biological enzymes. Both components of water-splitting, proton reduction and water oxidation, were studied separately. Complexes of iron, manganese, copper and cobalt were synthesized and then used for water-splitting catalysis. Cyclic voltammetry, alongside other techniques, were used to evaluate the efficiency of the catalysts and also to propose a working mechanism to the systems.