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 (Mn2O3), hausmannite (Mn3O4), and manganosite (MnO). Initial chemical water oxidation experiments using ceric ammonium nitrate (CAN) gave the maximum catalytic activity for Mn2O3 and MnO whereas Mn3O4 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