Enhanced water splitting through different substituted cobalt-salophen electrocatalysts

Abstract Synthesis of stable catalysts for water splitting is important for the renewable and clean energy production. Here, water oxidation activities of cobalt (II) complexes CoL1-CoL3 (1–3) with salophen type ligands (N,N′-bis(salicylidene)-4-chloro-1,2-phenylendiamine (H2L1), N,N′-bis(salicylidene)-4-bromo-1,2-phenylendiamine (H2L2) and N,N′-bis(salicylidene)-4-nitro-1,2-phenylendiamine (H2L3)) are studied by electrochemical techniques, FE-SEM images and XRD patterns. Linear sweep voltammetry studies indicate that 2 and 3 have superior activities and only require the overpotential of 316 and 247 mV vs. RHE at current density of 10 mA/cm2 with Tafel slopes of 75 and 50 mVdec−1 at pH = 11. Experiments show relationships between the stability of the complexes and their catalytic activity. It is revealed that substituents on ligands affect the catalytic behaviors. Experiments show that in the presence of 2 and 3, the complexed cobalt ions are likely candidates as molecular catalysts for water oxidation. It is speculated that the O–O bond formation occurs by oxidizing the active center of cobalt complexes.