Recently, Prof. Zhenbo Wang’s team from the School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering has achieved significant progress in the research of oxygen reduction reaction electrocatalysts. The team proposed an axial sulfur coordination strategy to regulate the charge symmetry of dual-atom active sites and successfully constructed an axially sulfur-coordinated Co-Zn dual-atom catalyst, enabling efficient and robust oxygen reduction reactions over a broad pH range. The research findings, titled “Breaking Charge Symmetry in Co-Zn Dual-Atom Catalyst with Axial Sulfur Coordination for Efficient Oxygen Reduction Reaction,” have been published in Angewandte Chemie International Edition, a top-tier journal in chemistry. This achievement provides new insights into the precise regulation of local electronic structures for dual-atom catalysts and the rational design of high-performance oxygen reduction electrocatalysts.
Traditional dual-atom catalysts feature relatively symmetric local charge distribution, which impedes the polarization and cleavage of O-O bonds during the oxygen reduction reaction. To address this bottleneck, Prof. Zhenbo Wang’s team screened diverse sulfur coordination configurations through theoretical calculations, and successfully constructed axially sulfur-coordinated Co-Zn dual-atom catalysts (Co-Zn@SNC) through a molecular-cage-confined coordination strategy. The results demonstrate that axial S coordination modulates the orbital and electronic configurations of the Co active centers and generates synergistic effects with the neighboring Zn site, breaks the charge symmetry of the local Co-N4 coordination environment, optimizes the adsorption strength of key *OOH intermediates, facilitates O-O bond activation, and lowers the reaction energy barrier. Meanwhile, this electronic modulation enhances the tolerance of the active sites against protonation and metal leaching, thereby improving the structural stability of the catalyst. As validated by electrochemical measurements, Co-Zn@SNC exhibits excellent catalytic activity and stability in alkaline, neutral, and acidic electrolytes. When assembled in zinc-air batteries and microbial fuel cells, it also exhibits favorable energy conversion capability and long-term operational stability. This work reveals, at the atomic scale, the regulatory mechanism of axial coordination and bimetallic synergy in the oxygen reduction reaction, offering a new design strategy for constructing asymmetric dual-atom active sites and developing high-performance electrocatalysts for energy conversion.
Harbin Institute of Technology is the first corresponding affiliation of this publication. Ph.D. candidate Jixiang Zou from the School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering at Harbin Institute of Technology and postdoctoral fellow Lixiao Shen from Shenzhen University are co-first authors. Associate Professor Mei Yan, Prof. Lei Zhao, Prof. Chongshen Guo and Prof. Zhenbo Wang are co-corresponding authors of the paper.
This research was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2025YFE0114000), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (U23A20573, 22579039, and 22409041), the Shandong Key Research and Development Program (2022CXGC010305), and the Heilongjiang Provincial Natural Science Foundation (LH2024B013), among other projects.
Charge-Asymmetric Co-Zn Dual-Atom Catalysts Constructed via an Axial Sulfur Coordination Strategy
Paper access link: http://doi.org/10.1002/anie.2911991
【Principal Investigator and Corresponding Author Biography】
Zhenbo Wang, Ph.D., is a professor and a doctoral supervisor at the School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology. He is a recipient of the National High-Level Talent programand a distinguished professor of the "Longjiang Scholar" program in Heilongjiang Province. He received the Hou Debang Chemical Science and Technology Innovation Award in 2022. He is named a Clarivate Highly Cited Researcher (2025) and has been recognized as an Elsevier Chinese Highly Cited Scholar for 12 consecutive years (2014–2025). His research focuses on advanced chemical power sources, hydrogen fuel cells, electrocatalysis, and nano-electrode materials. He has led multiple key projects, including those under the National Key Research and Development Program and the Key Program of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC). He has authored over 350 peer-reviewed SCI papers in journals such as Nature Catalysis, Nature Communications, Advanced Materials, and Angewandte Chemie International Edition. Among these, 28 are ESI highly cited papers (over a decade), and 10 are ESI hot papers. He holds 70 authorized invention patents. His honors include one First Prize of Science and Technology Progress (National Ministry Level) and two First Prizes of the Heilongjiang Provincial Natural Science Award.
Mei Yan, Associate Professor and PhD Supervisor in the School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology (HIT). Her research focuses on the development and application of electrocatalysis and electrode materials. She has published more than 50 SCI papers in international journals, including Journal of the American Chemical Society, Advanced Materials, and Angewandte Chemie International Edition, and authored two English monographs published by Elsevier. Her research contributions have been recognized by numerous prestigious awards, including the First-Class Prize of the Heilongjiang Provincial Higher Education Science and Technology Award, the Second-Class Prize of the "Tuoren Medical Device Science and Technology Innovation" Award presented by the Ministry of Science and Technology of China, the President’s Award of Tohoku University (Japan), and the Aoba Science Promotion Award (Japan). In parallel with her research achievements, she has received four national-level teaching awards, including the Grand Prize of the National Teaching Innovation Competition for Chemistry and Materials Majors in Chinese Higher Education Institutions. Under her supervision, students have won multiple national awards in innovation and entrepreneurship competitions.
