Inorganic Chemistry Commons^™

Developing Iron Complexes For Electrocatalytic Hydrogen Generation, Benjamin Travis

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Artificial photosynthesis systems convert solar energy into chemical fuels such as hydrogen gas. Photocatalytic hydrogen generation systems have previously been developed, but reliance on expensive metal catalysts limits the viability of these systems. In order for artificial photosynthesis to be used as a large-scale clean energy solution, it is crucial to discover more active and cost-efficient catalysts.

To this end, several novel iron polypyridyl complexes were synthesized using relatively inexpensive reactants. Electrochemical testing revealed that these complexes are active electrocatalysts for the reduction of protons to generate hydrogen gas. Furthermore, a naphthalene-terminated iron polypyridyl complex was found to be an …