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Noncovalent modulation for isolated cobalt-N4 sites via metal-phthalocyanine molecule confinement boosts electrosynthesis of hydrogen peroxide
Nano Research 2026, 19(1): 94908064
Published: 31 December 2025
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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.

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