Development of Molecular Metal Oxide Catalysts by Mimicking the Active Site of Redox Metalloenzymes

Abstract

With ever-increasing concerns on climate change, the development of efficient and robust electrocatalysts has drawn more and more attention from academia and industry for green and sustainable production of fine chemicals and fuels. In this regard, many scientists and engineers have focused on the development of novel chemical processes using enzymes, which have evolved to have high catalytic yield and selectivity under mild conditions. Despite such advantages of enzymatic chemical processes, their practical application is very limited to date due to high cost and low stability of enzymes. In this talk, I would like to introduce novel biomimetic approaches to develop cheap and efficient electrocatalysts with high catalytic activity and stability by mimicking the active site of redox metalloenzymes with molecular metal oxide clusters, the so-called polyoxometalates (POMs). For example, the development of POM-based electrocatalysts for oxygen (OER) and hydrogen evolution reactions (HER) will be presented on the basis of structure and function of oxygen evolving complex and hydrogenase enzymes, respectively. In addition, I will also present our recent efforts on hybridization of POM-based electrocatalysts with various functional materials such as small organic molecules, polymers, and inorganic materials by self-assembly and their application in solar energy conversion.