Subnanometer catalytic clusters for water splitting, method for splitting water using subnanometer catalyst clusters

A method for splitting water comprising:

• a) contacting the water with a catalytic electrode of an electrocatalytic cell, wherein the electrocatalytic cell comprises the catalytic electrode, an alkaline electrolyte with a pH greater than 10, and a reference hydrogen electrode, wherein the two electrodes and electrolyte are all in fluid communication, and wherein the catalytic electrode comprises a wafer coated with (ultra)nanocrystalline diamond so as to define a surface supporting catalyst spots, each spot consisting only of a plurality of palladium clusters, wherein each of the clusters have a size of between 3 and 20 atoms and remain physically isolated from each other, wherein each cluster spot is between 4 and 5 mm in diameter wherein the size of all the plurality of palladium clusters is selected from the group consisting of 4 plus or minus 1, 6 plus or minus 2, and 17 plus or minus 3 atoms of palladium per cluster;
• and
• b) applying a voltage to the electrodes.