Facile heterogenization of a cobalt catalyst via graphene adsorption: robust and versatile dihydrogen production systems

Abstract

A heterogeneous dihydrogen (H₂) production system has been attained by simply soaking electrodes made from electro-deposited graphene on FTO plated glass in solutions of a cobalt bis(dithiolate) compound. The resulting electrodes are active in weakly acidic aqueous solutions (pH > 3), have relatively low overpotentials (0.37 V versus platinum), show high catalytic rates (TOF > 1000 s⁻¹), and are resistant to degradation by dioxygen.