A sandwiched Co₄-added polyoxometalate for efficient visible light-driven hydrogen evolution.

Area of Science:

• Inorganic Chemistry
• Materials Science
• Catalysis

Background:

• Polyoxometalates (POMs) are versatile inorganic clusters with tunable properties.
• Developing efficient catalysts for hydrogen evolution is crucial for renewable energy.
• Cobalt-containing POMs show potential in catalytic applications.

Purpose of the Study:

• To synthesize and characterize a new cobalt-added polyoxometalate (CoAP).
• To investigate the structural properties and stability of the synthesized CoAP.
• To evaluate the catalytic activity of CoAP for visible light-driven hydrogen evolution.

Main Methods:

• Hydrothermal synthesis with a lacunary directing strategy.
• Single-crystal X-ray diffraction for structural analysis.
• Powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD) and FT-IR spectroscopy for stability tests.
• Visible light-driven hydrogen evolution experiments.

Main Results:

• A novel 1D chain CoAP, Cs4[(Co(H2O)5)2{(μ2-Co(H2O)4)2Co4(H2O)2(B-α-GeW9O34)2}]·6H2O (1), was successfully synthesized.
• Compound 1 exhibits excellent chemical stability and forms a 1D chain structure linked by cobalt-oxygen octahedra.
• The CoAP demonstrated high catalytic activity for H2 evolution (1485.95 μmol h-1 g-1) under visible light.
• PXRD and FT-IR confirmed the excellent heterogeneous catalytic stability of compound 1.

Conclusions:

• The synthesized CoAP possesses a stable 1D chain structure.
• The material shows significant potential as a heterogeneous catalyst for efficient hydrogen production.
• This work contributes to the development of advanced POM-based materials for sustainable energy solutions.