Ruthenium dioxide: a redox catalyst for the generation of hydrogen from water

Abstract

Ruthenium dioxide, already known to be a catalyst for the oxidation of water to oxygen, has been shown to mediate effectively the generation of hydrogen from water in Ru(bipy)²⁺₃, methyl viologen and EDTA model systems, with efficiencies even higher (pH > 5) than those of previously investigated platinum catalysts. The main factor limiting the evolution of hydrogen is found to be the destruction of the organic electron-transfer relay, and this side-reaction is attributed to H^˙_(ads) species formed on the particles of catalyst.