Mono-copper far more active than analogous di-copper complex for electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution

Abstract

The di-copper(II) analogue, [CuII2(bis-LEt)](BF4)2 (2), of the previously reported mono-copper(II) complex [CuIILEt]BF4 (1) which resulted in long lived electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), has been prepared, characterised and tested for...

Copper-based electrocatalyst for hydrogen evolution in water

“…1), 34 building on work by Black and Rothnie who made the analogous perchlorate complexes. 51 Recently, some of us showed that testing 1 resulted in modest electrocatalytic and photocatalytic HER performance in dry acetonitrile : 35,52 electrocatalysis carried out with acetic acid as the proton source resulted in TON = 12.5 after 6 h, with the activity ongoing §§Note that whilst ‘rinse and repeat’ and ‘mercury drop’ tests were negative in that study, the possibility that the observed catalytic activity was due to a heterogeneous species formed from 1 during CPE in MeCN/acetic acid could not be, and was not, ruled out.…”

“…1), 34 building on work by Black and Rothnie who made the analogous perchlorate complexes. 51 Recently, some of us showed that testing 1 resulted in modest electrocatalytic and photocatalytic HER performance in dry acetonitrile: 35,52 electrocatalysis carried out with acetic acid as the proton source resulted in TON = 12.5 after 6 h, with the activity ongoing. § Building on those promising results, herein we report the results of testing 1 for electrocatalytic HER in neutral water.…”