Cobalt-Based Metal–Organic Cages for Visible-Light-Driven Water Oxidation

Water oxidation to molecular oxygen is indispensable but a challenge for splitting H2O. In this work, a series of Co-based metal-organic cages (MOCs) for photoinduced water oxidation were prepared. MOC-1 with both bis(μ-oxo) bridged dicobalt and Co-O (O from H2O) displays catalytic activity with an initial oxygen evolution rate of 80.4 mmol/g/h and a TOF of 7.49 × 10-3 s-1 in 10 min. In contrast, MOC-2 containing only Co-O (O from H2O) in the structure results in a lower oxygen evolution rate (40.8 mmol/g/h, 4.78 × 10-3 s-1), while the amount of oxygen evolved from the solution of MOC-4 without both active sites is undetectable. Isotope experiments with or without H218O as the reactant successfully demonstrate that the molecular oxygen was produced from water oxidation. Photophysical and electrochemical studies reveal that photoinduced water oxidation initializes via electron transfer from the excited [Ru(bpy)3]2+* to Na2S2O8, and then, the cobalt active sites further donate electrons to the oxidized [Ru(bpy)3]3+ to drive water oxidation. This proof-of-concept study indicates that MOCs can work as potential efficient catalysts for photoinduced water oxidation.