Polyoxotungstates
A significant part of our research activity is based upon the synthesis, characterisation of new types of Transition metal substituted polyoxometalates (TMSPs). These are an attractive class of inorganic metal-oxo clusters because of their potential applications in the areas of catalysis, molecular electronics, material, biochemistry and medicine. Practical applications of TMSPs in these areas depend on their successful immobilization. Our aim is to develop multifunctional films that can catalyze both reductions and oxidations of well know analytes However, a single chemical species can serve this purpose for a limited number; thus, a more general approach is to use a bifunctional composite. Tris(2,2 ' -bipyridyl)ruthenium(II) complex is an interesting functional molecule, which is thermodynamically capable of splitting water by visible light as well as being useful as a photoluminescent probe and electrochromic compound. Therefore, exploring the systems containing TMSPs and Tris(2,2 ' -bipyridyl)ruthenium(II) will be interesting research. The sandwich-type TMSPs are our favorite candidates to above multilayer films for the following reasons: (i) the redox potential can be separated very well from that of Tris(2,2 ' -bipyridyl)ruthenium(II); (ii) more metals are sandwiched between the lacunary species resulting in stable structures; (iii) the redox properties in the multilayer films have never been reported which prompts us to find new redox species in solid state.
Another project involves the development of a novel range of redox active solid state materials, based upon isopolyanions (ISOPs). The major objective for this collaborative project is to then undertake detailed investigations into the processes that dictate the crystallinity of solid state coatings, the associated charge transport processes and the photo oxidative power of the materials. Our findings will underpin developments of materials for solid sate applications such as catalysis, chemical sensors, charge storage and molecular electronics devices.
