The development of an earth-abundant, first-row water oxidation catalyst that operates at a high TOF and a low overpotential remains a fundamental chemical challenge. Cobalt complexes are important members of water oxidation catalysts. Herein, we report a cobalt-based robust homogeneous water oxidation catalyst, which can electrocatalyze water oxidation at a high pH and a low overpotential (η = 520 mV) in phosphate buffer. This homogeneous system exhibits a high turnover frequency (about 5 s⁻¹) of catalyzing water oxidation to produce oxygen at η = 720 mV. We speculate the mechanism of the reaction that O–O bond formation prefers a HO–OH coupling in catalytic water oxidation.

中文翻译：

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钴配合物的电催化氧逸出

在高TOF和低超电势下运行的富含地球的第一行水氧化催化剂的开发仍然是一项基本的化学挑战。钴配合物是水氧化催化剂的重要成员。本文中，我们报道了一种钴基坚固的均相水氧化催化剂，该催化剂可以在磷酸盐缓冲液中在高pH值和低超电势（η = 520 mV）下电催化水氧化。该均相系统表现出高的催化催化水氧化以产生η = 720 mV的氧气的周转频率（约5 s ^-1）。我们推测了反应机理，即在催化水氧化中，O-O键的形成更倾向于HO-OH偶联。