Bioinspired Sulfo oxygen bridges optimize interfacial water structure for enhanced hydrogen oxidation and evolution reactions

Chengdong Yang; Yun Gao; Zhengyu Xing; Xinxin Shu; Zechao Zhuang; Yueqing Wang; Yijuan Zheng; Shuang Li; Chong Cheng; Dingsheng Wang; Jintao Zhang

doi:10.1038/s41467-025-61871-2

Bioinspired Sulfo oxygen bridges optimize interfacial water structure for enhanced hydrogen oxidation and evolution reactions

Nat Commun. 2025 Jul 12;16(1):6459. doi: 10.1038/s41467-025-61871-2.

Authors

Chengdong Yang^#¹, Yun Gao^#², Zhengyu Xing³, Xinxin Shu¹, Zechao Zhuang², Yueqing Wang¹, Yijuan Zheng³, Shuang Li³, Chong Cheng⁴, Dingsheng Wang⁵, Jintao Zhang⁶

Affiliations

¹ Key Laboratory for Colloid and Interface Chemistry, Ministry of Education, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Shandong University, Jinan, China.
² Department of Chemistry, Engineering Research Center of Advanced Rare Earth Materials, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China.
³ College of Polymer Science and Engineering, State Key Laboratory of Polymer Materials Engineering, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China.
⁴ College of Polymer Science and Engineering, State Key Laboratory of Polymer Materials Engineering, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China. chong.cheng@scu.edu.cn.
⁵ Department of Chemistry, Engineering Research Center of Advanced Rare Earth Materials, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China. wangdingsheng@mail.tsinghua.edu.cn.
⁶ Key Laboratory for Colloid and Interface Chemistry, Ministry of Education, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Shandong University, Jinan, China. jtzhang@sdu.edu.cn.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Uncovering the dynamic structures of water at the electrode-solution interface is crucial for various electrocatalysis processes, where water acts as a proton and electron source. However, precisely controlling the state of water on complex interfaces remains challenging. Inspired by the metalloproteins in natural enzymes, we herein demonstrate that the hydrophilic sulfo-oxygen bridging between Co and Ru sites (Co_s-SO-Ru) optimizes interfacial water structure via a favorable hydrogen-bond network, promoting hydrogen oxidation and evolution reactions. Mechanistic studies reveal that the stereoscopic sulfo-oxygen bridges enhance the connectivity of hydrogen-bond network to promote the proton transfer process via repelling cations from the electrode surface. Furthermore, electron donating Co sites reduce the surface oxophilicity of Ru to optimize the adsorption-desorption behaviors of hydroxyl, governing the timely refreshed Ru sites to enhance catalytic performances. Such bioinspired active sites offer a different pathway for the precise design of interfacial water structure to improve electrocatalysis.

Abstract

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