Sulfonate Group Improves the Solubility and Electrocatalytic Performance of Ru‐Based bda‐ and pda‐Type Water Oxidation Catalysts under Neutral Conditions

Abstract

Four ruthenium water oxidation catalysts that bear carboxylate and sulfonate groups in the active site have been synthesized and analyzed for their catalytic activity. The sulfonate‐containing catalysts show higher electrochemical activity in pH 7 phosphate buffer with 3‐5 times larger catalytic current, improved durability with sacrificial oxidant, and increased solubility compared to similar species containing two carboxylate groups. Density functional theory calculations suggest that the sulfonate group provides more a favorable geometry for water nucleophilic attack, which is both the energetically most favorable mechanism calculated and the experimentally predicted mechanism under electrochemical conditions. Further experimental studies have been performed to show that under certain conditions catalysts can perform well electrochemically under pH conditions as low as 1.6 and that various structural components can greatly change solubility and catalytic operation.