Recent progress in homogeneous light-driven hydrogen evolution using first-row transition metal catalysts

Abstract

The rich chemistry, low cost and availability offered by first-row transition metals have inspired many researchers to focus on the design, preparation and testing of a wide plethora of efficient catalytic systems for homogeneous light-driven hydrogen evolution based on Co, Ni, Fe and Cu complexes. Hundreds of molecular HER (hydrogen evolution reaction) photocatalysts consisting of these earth-abundant metals combined with a variety of ligands, which display different structural and redox properties, have lately been reported and tested, hoping to contribute to the eventual development of readily functioning, efficient solar energy devices for H2 generation as a green fuel. In this work, we aim to help the community to keep up with the latest advances in this exponentially growing field, with a special focus on systems reported in the 2016-2020 period.