title: Role of the Electron Spin Polarization in Water Splitting.
abstract: We show that in an electrochemical cell, in which the photoanode is coated with chiral molecules, the overpotential required for hydrogen production drops remarkably, as compared with cells containing achiral molecules. The hydrogen evolution efficiency is studied comparing seven different organic molecules, three chiral and four achiral. We propose that the spin specificity of electrons transferred through chiral molecules is the origin of a more efficient oxidation process in which oxygen is formed in its triplet ground state. The new observations are consistent with recent theoretical works pointing to the importance of spin alignment in the water-splitting process.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Physics, Weizmann Institute of Science , Rehovot 76100, Israel.
authors.forename: Wilbert
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Mtangi
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Physics, Weizmann Institute of Science , Rehovot 76100, Israel.
authors.forename: Vankayala
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Kiran
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Physics, Weizmann Institute of Science , Rehovot 76100, Israel.|Department of Engineering 'Enzo Ferrari', Universita' degli Studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia , Via Vivarelli 10 41125 Modena, Italy.
authors.forename: Claudio
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Fontanesi
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Physics, Weizmann Institute of Science , Rehovot 76100, Israel.
authors.forename: Ron
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Naaman