High-Rate Hydrogen Generation by Direct Sunlight Irradiation with a Triruthenium Complex.

Herein we report a biomimetic triruthenium catalyst that, when under direct sunlight irradiation, facilitates high-rate H2 production from formic acid (FA) dehydrogenation. The system consists of 2 μmol of catalyst and 6 μmol of tri- o-tolylphosphine in 1 mL of dimethylformamide (DMF) and 4 mL of FA/triethylamine (TEA; 5:2). With 0.4 mM catalyst loaded, a high turnover frequency of 1.15 × 106 h-1 was detected when under direct sunlight irradiation. In an experiment with 0.2 mM catalyst loaded, more than 140 L of H2 (280 L of H2 + CO2) was produced, and a turnover number of approximately 2.78 × 106 was obtained within 5 h without decline in H2 generation activity, making it suitable for high-rate H2 production.