Acriflavine–cobaloxime–triethanolamine homogeneous photocatalytic system for water splitting and the multiple effects of cobaloxime and triethanolamine

Acriflavine dye, with a long-lived triplet excited state, has a strong sensitizing ability for photodriven water splitting when [CoIII(dmgH)2(py)Cl] complex is used as a catalyst and triethanolamine as electron donor. This catalytic system is an example of a noble-metal-free homogeneous system for hydrogen generation from water. Moreover, the mechanistic details of the overall reaction pathway, as well as Acriflavine fading, is presented to offer significant guidance to developing more robust photocatalytic systems.

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► A noble-metal-free homogeneous photocatalytic system based on Acriflavine + cobaloxime + triethanolamine was constructed.
► 110 turnovers of H2 per Acriflavine were obtained after 2 h irradiation
► The mechanistic details on both the reaction pathway and Acriflavine fading were revealed by UV–vis absorption spectra of photolysis solutions.