Bioinspired Metal Organic Naostructures for Electrcatalysis

Electrochemical conversions at fuel cell electrodes are complex processes. Oxygen reduction and oxidation reactions (ORR and OER, respectivelly) have considerable overpotential limiting the efficiency. Effective and inexpensive catalytic interfaces are therefore essential for increased performance. Taking inspiration from enzymes, earth- abundant metal centers embedded in organic environments present remarkable catalytic active sites. We present here strategies for effectively mimicked these catalytic centers by using two- dimensional metal- organic coordination networks self- assembled on electrode surfaces. Networks consisting of an aromatic ring backbone with specific functional groups (carboxylic, pyrimidine, pyridine or cyano groups) coordinated to single Fe, Co or Cu atoms on Au(111) catalyze effectively ORR or OER and reveal distinctive catalytic activity. The results demonstrate the high potential of surface- engineered metal- organic networks for electrocatalytic conversions. Specifically designed coordination complexes at surfaces inspired by enzyme cofactors represent a new class of nanocatalysts with promising applications in electrocatalysis.