Fe2S2 nano-clusters catalyze water splitting by removing formed oxygen using aid of an artificial gill under visible light

Natural photosynthetic systems use enzymes to split water, such as [Fe Fe]-hydrogenases with an active center consisting of a butterfly Fe2S2 cluster. Developing of artificial catalyst with similar, active center structure and functions is still one of main objectives in photocatalyst study for energy storage and conversion. In the present study, we prepared Fe2S2 nanocluster with doped Ni which possess similar active center to the center in [FeFe]-hydrogenases (the similar Fe-Fe bond length (2.60 angstrom), Fe-S-Fe bond angle and mbssbauer effect) for water splitting. Electrochemical measurements showed that the catalyst exhibited low onset potential about 30 mV and overpotential of similar to 0.12 V at 10 mA/cm(2) for hydrogen generation. Besides, by fabricated an artificial gill, Ni-doped Fe2S2 composite (AG-NFG) photocatalytic system performed significant enhanced activity for H-2 generation from pure water under visible light irradiation (lambda >= 420 nm) without the use of sacrificial reagents. (C) 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.