TY - GEN A1 - Garain, Samiran A1 - Barman, Koushik A1 - Sinha, Tridib Kumar A1 - Jasimuddin, Sk A1 - Haeberle, Jörg A1 - Henkel, Karsten A1 - Schmeißer, Dieter A1 - Mandal, Dipankar T1 - Cerium(III) Complex Modified Gold Electrode: An Efficient Electrocatalyst for the Oxygen Evolution Reaction T2 - ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces N2 - Exploring efficient and inexpensive electrocatalysts for the oxidation of water is of great importance for various electrochemical energy storage and conversion technologies. In the present study, a new water-soluble [Ce III(DMF) (HSO4)3] complex was synthesized and characterized by UV−vis, photoluminescence, and high-resolution X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy techniques. Owing to classic 5d →4f transitions, an intense photoluminescence in the UV region was observed from the water-soluble [CeIII(DMF (HSO4)3] complex. A stacking electrode was designed where self-assembled L-cysteine monolayer modified gold was immobilized with the synthesized cerium complex and was characterized by scanning electron microscopy, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, and cyclic voltam-metry. The resulting electrode, i.e., [CeIII(DMF)(HSO4)3]−L-cysteine-Au stacks shows high electrocatalytic water oxidation behavior at an overpotential of η ≈0.34 V under neutral pH conditions. We also demonstrated a way where the overpotential is possible to decrease upon irradiation of UV light. KW - water oxidation KW - electrocatalyst KW - photoelectrocatalyst KW - photoluminescence KW - Ce(III)-complex KW - L-cysteine KW - gold electrode Y1 - 2016 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.6b05236 SN - 1944-8244 SN - 1944-8252 VL - 8 IS - 33 SP - 21294 EP - 21301 ER -