Visible light-induced water oxidation catalyzed by molybdenum-based polyoxometalates with mono- and dicobalt(iii) cores as oxygen-evolving centers

The Mo-based polyoxometalates containing mono- and dicobalt(iii) catalyst cores, [CoMo₆O₂₄H₆]³⁻and [Co₂Mo₁₀O₃₈H₄]⁶⁻, were found to serve as O₂-evolving catalysts in a system consisting of tris(2,2−-bipyridine)ruthenium(ii) (Ru(bpy)₃²⁺) and sodium persulfate (S₂O 2− 8) in an aqueous borate buffer solution at pH 8.0. Kinetics of O₂evolution reveals that the higher cobalt nuclearity is not necessary to attain the highly active nature of the catalyst.