Cobalt thiolate complexes catalyst in noble-metal-free system for photocatalytic hydrogen production

Abstract

Thiolate complexes Co(bpy)(pyS)₂ (M) were synthesized, the effect of reaction conditions (such as pH values, solvents, electron donor, photosensitizers, catalyst, and concentrations) on catalytic performance of catalyst M was studied and the optimum reaction conditions were selected. The results of catalytic performance imply that complexes M showed good catalytic activity when concentration of catalyst M was 2.5 μM, concentration of fluorescein was 2.0 mM, pH value was 11.6, electron donor was triethylamine (5%), and the solvent was EtOH/H₂O (1: 1 V/V). The catalysis system presented the best performance and hydrogen production reached 369.2 μmol h^–1 after reacting for 15 h; the life of catalyst M was 41 h investigated under the optimum conditions.