Heterocyclic-Additive-Activated Dinuclear Dysprosium Electrocatalysts for Heterogeneous Water Oxidation.

Heterogeneous catalysis based on air-stable lanthanide complexes is relatively rare, especially for electrochemical water oxidation and reduction. Therefore, it is highly desired to investigate the synergy caused by cocatalysts on the lanthanide complex family for heterogeneous catalysis because of their structural diversity, air/moisture insensitivity, and easy preparation under an air atmosphere. Two mononuclear and three dinuclear dysprosium complexes containing a series of Schiff-base ligands have been demonstrated as robust electrocatalysts for triggering heterogeneous water oxidation in alkaline solution, in which the complex [Dy(hmb)(OAc)]·MeCN() was revealed to have the best activity toward heterogeneous water oxidation among all five complexes in the present study.