Visible-light-driven hydrogen evolution using a polyoxometalate-based copper molecular catalyst

Abstract

Polyoxometalate-based copper clusters as promising hydrogen evolution catalysts are rarely reported. Here, [Cu₅(OH)₄(H₂O)₂(A-α-SiW₉O₃₃)₂]¹⁰⁻ (1) was tested as an effective molecular catalyst for visible-light-driven H₂ evolution. A high turnover number (TON) of 718.9 was achieved in the photocatalytic reaction. Many stability experiments showed that compound 1 could maintain its structure intact during the photocatalytic process.