Visible-light-driven hydrogen production in a dye sensitized polyoxometalate system without noble metals

Highlights: • SiW₁₂O₄₀⁴⁻ was sensitized with Eosin Y for hydrogen production upon visible-light irradiation. • This simple system made of earth-abundant elements is expected to contribute toward the development of functional and efficient artificial photosynthetic system. In this work, a noble-metal-free homogeneous system was constructed in one step with Keggin-type polyoxometalate (POM) SiW₁₂O₄₀⁴⁻ as a catalyst, Eosin Y as a photosensitizer, and triethanolamine (TEOA) as a sacrificial electron donor for water splitting to produce hydrogen under visible-light irradiation. A two-electron reduced heteropoly blue SiW₁₂O₄₀⁶⁻ is produced by photosensitization under visible-light irradiation. The effect of various component concentrations and POMs with different central atoms (PW₁₂O₄₀³⁻, GeW₁₂O₄₀⁴⁻, etc.) on hydrogen production was discussed. This simple system made of earth-abundant elements is expected to contribute toward the development of functional and efficient artificial photosynthetic system.