title: Modification of Wide-Band-Gap Oxide Semiconductors with Cobalt Hydroxide Nanoclusters for Visible-Light Water Oxidation.
abstract: Cobalt-based compounds, such as cobalt(II) hydroxide, are known to be good catalysts for water oxidation. Herein, we report that such cobalt species can also activate wide-band-gap semiconductors towards visible-light water oxidation. Rutile TiO2 powder, a well-known wide-band-gap semiconductor, was capable of harvesting visible light with wavelengths of up to 850 nm, and thus catalyzed water oxidation to produce molecular oxygen, when decorated with cobalt(II) hydroxide nanoclusters. To the best of our knowledge, this system constitutes the first example that a particulate photocatalytic material that is capable of water oxidation upon excitation by visible light can also operate at such long wavelengths, even when it is based on earth-abundant elements only.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, School of Science, Tokyo Institute of Technology, 2-12-1-NE-2 Ookayama, Meguro-ku, Tokyo, 152-8550, Japan. maedak@chem.titech.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Kazuhiko
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Maeda
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, School of Science, Tokyo Institute of Technology, 2-12-1-NE-2 Ookayama, Meguro-ku, Tokyo, 152-8550, Japan.
authors.forename: Koki
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ishimaki
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, School of Science, Tokyo Institute of Technology, 2-12-1-NE-2 Ookayama, Meguro-ku, Tokyo, 152-8550, Japan.
authors.forename: Yuki
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Tokunaga
authors.affiliation: Center for Advanced Materials Analysis, Tokyo Institute of Technology, 4259 Nagatsuta-cho, Midori-ku, Yokohama, 226-8503, Japan.
authors.forename: Daling
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.affiliation: Electronic Functional Materials Group, Polymer Materials Unit, National Institute for Materials Science, 1-1 Namiki, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-0044, Japan.
authors.forename: Miharu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Eguchi
keywords: heterogeneous catalysis; photocatalysis; semiconductors; solar energy; water oxidation