Nanostructured manganese oxides as highly active water oxidation catalysts: a boost from manganese precursor chemistry.

We present a facile synthesis of bioinspired manganese oxides for chemical and photocatalytic water oxidation, starting from a reliable and versatile manganese(II) oxalate single-source precursor (SSP) accessible through an inverse micellar molecular approach. Strikingly, thermal decomposition of the latter precursor in various environments (air, nitrogen, and vacuum) led to the three different mineral phases of bixbyite (Mn2 O3 ), hausmannite (Mn3 O4 ), and manganosite (MnO). Initial chemical water oxidation experiments using ceric ammonium nitrate (CAN) gave the maximum catalytic activity for Mn2 O3 and MnO whereas Mn3 O4 had a limited activity. The substantial increase in the catalytic activity of MnO in chemical water oxidation was demonstrated by the fact that a phase transformation occurs at the surface from nanocrystalline MnO into an amorphous MnOx (1<x<2) upon treatment with CAN, which acted as an oxidizing agent. Photocatalytic water oxidation in the presence of [Ru(bpy)3 ](2+) (bpy=2,2'-bipyridine) as a sensitizer and peroxodisulfate as an electron acceptor was carried out for all three manganese oxides including the newly formed amorphous MnOx . Both Mn2 O3 and the amorphous MnOx exhibit tremendous enhancement in oxygen evolution during photocatalysis and are much higher in comparison to so far known bioinspired manganese oxides and calcium-manganese oxides. Also, for the first time, a new approach for the representation of activities of water oxidation catalysts has been proposed by determining the amount of accessible manganese centers.