@article{Li2026, 
author = {Xiaogang Li and Nan Zhang and Hua Zhang and Xindie Jin and Baojuan Xi and Shenglin Xiong and Xin Wang},
title = {Noncovalent modulation for isolated cobalt-N4 sites via metal-phthalocyanine molecule confinement boosts electrosynthesis of hydrogen peroxide},
year = {2026},
journal = {Nano Research},
volume = {19},
number = {1},
pages = {94908064},
keywords = {electrosynthesis, hydrogen peroxide, single-atom sites, molecule confinement, noncovalent modulation},
url = {https://www.sciopen.com/article/10.26599/NR.2025.94908064},
doi = {10.26599/NR.2025.94908064},
abstract = {Electrosynthesis of hydrogen peroxide through the two-electron oxygen reduction pathway provides a crucial alternative to the energy-intensive anthraquinone process. Nevertheless, the efficicency for hydrogen peroxide generation is limited by the competitive four-electron pathway. In this work, we report a noncovalent modulation strategy for the isolated CoN4 sites by metal-phthalocyanine molecules confinement, which boosts the two-electron oxygen reduction towards generating hydrogen peroxide. The confined Co-phthalocyanine molecules on CoN4 sites through π–π interactions induce the competitive *OOH adsorption between the two Co sites formed nanochannel. This noncovalent modulation contributes to the weakened *OOH binding on CoN4 sites and thus suppresses its further dissociation, achieving the maximum selectivity of 95% with high activity for H2O2 production. This work shows that tailoring noncovalent interactions beyond the binding sites is a promising approach to modulate the local structure of isolated metal sites and related catalytic performance.}
}