March Molecule of the Month

Image and post credit: Dr. Steve Tereniak

March 2023’s Molecule of the Month is fac-Re(4,4’-bis(4-butylsilatrane)-2,2’-bipyridine)(CO)₃Cl! This Re-silatrane CO₂ reduction catalyst was attached to TiO₂-coated, n-type silicon(100) and shown to give a Faradaic efficiency of about 30% for the reduction of CO₂ to CO, whereas an amide-linked Re silatrane catalyst silicon electrode gave only 3% Faradaic efficiency for this reduction. The CO₂ reduction performance correlates with the solution electrochemistry of these complexes in that compounds without amides gave well-behaved reductions, whereas a compound with an amide gave poor reductive electrochemical features. A similar Re-bpy CO₂ reduction catalyst with only one alkylsilatrane functional group was attached to TiO₂-coated, low-doped p-type silicon(100) and was shown to give a photovoltage of ~0.5 V under illumination. Characterization techniques used in the study include X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), infrared spectroscopy (IR), and cyclic voltammetry (CV). The CHASE collaboration was lead by the Hazari, Mayer, and Concepcion groups and also included contributions by the Cahoon, Lockett, Meyer, and Wang groups as well as CHASE staff scientists Dr. Carrie L. Donley and Dr. Renato N. Sampaio.

Check it out at https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.inorgchem.2c04137!