Electrochemical water splitting using non-noble metals as catalysts is of increasing importance for the future energy sector. In particular, efficient catalysts for the demanding oxygen evolution reaction present a major challenge. As a contribution to this field, tailored mesoporous hard template materials based on manganese phthalocyanine were prepared. The preparation method proved to be crucial to achieve suitable physicochemical properties as a basis for high catalytic activity. The materials show overpotentials between 490 and 590 mV at 10 mA cm−2 This can be mainly attributed to efficient graphitization, high Mn dispersion and tailored oxidation states.
