Harbin Institute of Technology All Media (Youyuan Zhang, Xi Chen /Text; Xi Chen/Image). Recently, the research group led by Prof. Wei Wang from the School of Environment, Harbin Institute of Technology (HIT), under the guidance of Academician Jun Ma, has made significant progress in the field of low-energy, chemical-free green water treatment. The study, entitled “Ultrafast energy-neutral molecular oxygen activation via atomically adjacent bimetallic catalytic sites”, was published in Nature Communications and selected as an Editors’ Highlights article.
Molecular oxygen (O2) activation is a fundamental catalytic process in energy conversion, green chemistry, and environmental remediation. As the most abundant natural oxidant, O2 is widely regarded as an ideal alternative to conventional chemical oxidants such as hydrogen peroxide, persulfate, and ozone. However, the triplet ground state of O2 imposes intrinsic spin-forbidden constraints, leading to sluggish electron transfer kinetics and significant reaction barriers. To overcome these limitations, existing O2 activation strategies typically rely on external energy inputs such as light, electricity, or heat, which compromise economic feasibility and sustainability. In contrast, energy-neutral O2 activation systems often suffer from isolated active sites, localized electronic states, and cumulative multi-step electron-transfer barriers, resulting in low reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation rates, insufficient catalytic activity, and rapid intermediate dissipation, thereby limiting practical applicability.
Addressing this scientific and technological challenge, Prof. Wei Wang’s group proposed a novel strategy for molecular oxygen activation that requires neither external oxidants nor additional energy input. By constructing atomically adjacent bimetallic catalytic sites, the team leveraged d-d orbital coupling and electron delocalization to establish short-range, highly efficient electron-transfer pathways within the catalyst. This design enhances O2 adsorption and facilitates effective weakening of the O-O bond through π* orbital interactions, enabling direct and selective conversion of O2 into singlet oxygen (1O2) under mild conditions. Under bias-free conditions with simple aeration, the system achieved ROS generation rates and pollutant degradation performance comparable to those of conventional chemical oxidation processes, while reducing operational costs by approximately two orders of magnitude. Moreover, the catalyst demonstrated excellent stability and versatility in complex water matrices, showing broad applicability in organic pollutant degradation, inorganic ion transformation, and bacterial inactivation. This work establishes a new design paradigm for sustainable and efficient molecular oxygen activation and lays a solid foundation for the development of next-generation energy-neutral catalytic technologies.
The activation mechanism of molecular oxygen electron transfer driven by adjacent dual-site cooperation
HIT is the first corresponding institution of the paper.Xi Chen , a doctoral candidate from the School of Environment, is the first author. Associate Researcher Aiwen Wang, Prof. Dongmei Liu, and doctoral student Yang Cao , among others, are co-authors. Prof. Wei Wang serves as the corresponding author, and Prof. Xianwei Liu from the University of Science and Technology of China is co-corresponding author. Academician Jun Ma provided important guidance throughout the study.
This research work was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China, the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the Natural Science Foundation of Heilongjiang Province of China, and the Independent Project of the State Key Laboratory of Urban -rural Water Resources and Environment.
Paper link：https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-67706-4
