Catalyst self-assembly accelerates bimetallic light-driven electrocatalytic H₂ evolution in water

Hydrogen evolution is an important fuel-generating reaction that has been subject to mechanistic debate about the roles of monometallic and bimetallic pathways. The molecular iridium catalysts in this study undergo photoelectrochemical dihydrogen (H₂) evolution via a bimolecular mechanism, providing an opportunity to understand the factors that promote bimetallic H-H coupling. Covalently tethered diiridium catalysts evolve H₂ from neutral water faster than monometallic catalysts, even at lower overpotential. The unexpected origin of this improvement is non-covalent supramolecular self-assembly into nanoscale aggregates that efficiently harvest light and form H-H bonds. Monometallic catalysts containing long-chain alkane substituents leverage the self-assembly to evolve H₂ from neutral water at low overpotential and with rates close to the expected maximum for this light-driven water splitting reaction. Design parameters for holding multiple catalytic sites in close proximity and tuning catalyst microenvironments emerge from this work.