Sulfonate-mediated hydrogen-bond network modulation and proton enrichment at zerovalent iron-water interface for...

Hydrogenation reaction driven by atomic hydrogen (*H) in nanoscale zerovalent iron (nZVI)-water system holds great promise for deep dechlorination of refractory organic compounds, while adequate *H supply at nZVI-water interface remain challenges due to random proton transfer and rapid *H recombination. Inspired by the metalloproteins in natural enzymes, an interfacial hydrogen-bond network modulation strategy was proposed to design sulfonate modified nZVI (S-nZVI), which realized oriented proton transfer and surface *H confinement, offering sufficient *H for dechlorination reaction. S-nZVI achieved excellent dechlorination efficiency (95.4% ∼ 99.7% for 4-CP, TCE, 2,4-DCP, CAP and DCF) compared to the pristine nZVI (1.1% ∼ 5.3%), and its dechlorination rate for 4-CP was 6.8 ∼ 24.5-fold faster than that of state-of-the-art nZVI-based materials. Mechanistic insights revealed that sulfonate enhanced the connectivity of interfacial hydrogen-bond network via -S=O…H-O-H configuration, which not only promoted directional proton transfer/enrichment at nZVI-water interface, but also provided an ordered spatial structure for surface *H confinement, offering high *H concentration for C-Cl bond cleavage. Besides, the reshaped hydrogen-bond network created numerous electron-rich active centers, which regulated proton/water adsorption behavior and decreased energy barrier of proton reduction/water dissociation, further accelerating *H generation. This study overcomes the inherent limitations of nZVI-water system, realizing adequate *H supply and efficient dechlorination reaction.