Cobalt Oxide Nano-particles Able to Split Water Molecules

AZoNano reported that researchers have discovered that nano-sized crystals of cobalt oxide can effectively split water molecules, a process that is necessary for photosynthesis to occur.

Heinz Frei, a chemist who has been heavily involved in the research, said:

Prior to our study, it was not known whether the catalysis, which takes place on the surface of the cobalt oxide crystallites, happens at every cobalt center on the surface at the same speed, or whether a subset of cobalt sites does most of the work while other subsets are slow or merely spectators.

Our results show that there is a subset of fast sites where a considerable fraction of the catalysis takes place, and a subset of sites where the catalysis proceeds considerably more slowly. This discovery of these fast and slow sites and the proposed structural difference between two provides the basis for designing cobalt oxide surfaces with higher concentrations of fast sites.

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