Electrocatalytic water oxidation with a tris-chelating bipyridine/bis-pyrimidinethiolate Co(iii) complex covalently immobilized onto MoS2 nanosheets

Abstract

The development of an oxygen evolution reaction (OER) electrocatalyst based on 2H-MoS₂ nanosheets bearing covalently linked octahedral tris-chelating bipyridine/bis-pyrimidinethiolate Co(III) complexes as catalytic centers is presented. The nanohybrid material exhibits superior OER electroactivity and facilitates electron flow, compared to 2H-MoS₂, which is attributed to the dispersed, surface-located molecular Co(III) catalytic centers and supported by a catalytic cycle for water oxidation that proceeds through a single-site water nucleophilic attack mechanism, operating within the Co(III)/Co(IV) redox manifold.