Fullerene water-shell photocatalyst

3.07 Å water distance triggers H₂

Simply positioning a water shell at 3.07 Å around C60 converts inert fullerene into a highly efficient hydrogen evolution photocatalyst, without any metal cocatalyst.

Gu, Mengyue · Cheng, Miao · Yao, Zhengyin · Rui, Zhai · Liu, Haoliang · Chao, Li · Cheng, Yonghong · Zhang, Peng · Guan, Jie · Wang, Shaobin · Zhang, Jinying

Applied Catalysis B: Environmental 2026

Specifications

H2 evolution rate

{'zh': '5.7', 'en': '5.7'} mmol h−1 g−1

Water-C60 distance

{'zh': '3.07', 'en': '3.07'} Å

Conduction band minimum

{'zh': '-4.27', 'en': '-4.27'} eV

Valence band maximum

{'zh': '-5.82', 'en': '-5.82'} eV

Advantages

Metal-free operation

Hydrogen evolution proceeds efficiently at the C60-water shell interface without any metal cocatalyst, greatly reducing material cost and environmental burden.

Inert fullerene activated

A simple sonication method brings water to about 3.07 Å from C60, activating the otherwise inert fullerene for hydrogen evolution.

Well-defined active site

The highly symmetric structure of C60 allows the water-active site distance to be precisely identified, enabling atomic-level understanding of the structure–activity relationship.

Applications

• Photocatalytic H₂ evolution：Directly used for photocatalytic H2 evolution without metal cocatalysts
• Photocatalysis：Provides a new strategy to activate photocatalysis via distance control
• Green hydrogen production：Produces green hydrogen from water under light irradiation
• Artificial photosynthesis：Mimics water oxidation in natural photosynthesis for artificial water splitting
• Metal-free catalytic materials：Metal-free photocatalyst composed only of carbon and water, environmentally friendly