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Chloride-Driven Interfacial Confinement Facilitates Adaptive Directional Electron Transfer in Hypersaline
Guanglei Yao1, Zhenwei Gao1, Jiabin Chen1,2,3
1State Key Laboratory of Water Pollution Control and Green Resource Recycling, College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai, China.
Angewandte Chemie (International Ed. in English)
|August 12, 2026
Summary
Chloride ions (Cl-) can surprisingly enhance wastewater treatment by reconfiguring interfaces, not inhibiting reactions. This study reveals a new catalytic pathway driven by chloride ions, improving degradation and stability in hypersaline conditions.
Area of Science:
- Environmental Science
- Catalysis
- Materials Science
Background:
- Chloride ions (Cl-) are typically viewed as inhibitors in hypersaline wastewater treatment.
- Their presence can lead to catalyst deactivation and reduced treatment efficiency.
Purpose of the Study:
- To challenge the conventional view of chloride ions as solely inhibitory.
- To demonstrate chloride ions' potential as active interfacial regulators in wastewater treatment.
Main Methods:
- Development of a chloride ion-driven directional coordination strategy to create an adaptive electron transfer channel (AETC).
- Utilizing multi-scale experiments, density functional theory (DFT) calculations, and molecular dynamics simulations.
- Investigating the impact of chloride ions on interfacial charge-transfer kinetics and mass transport.
Main Results:
- Chloride ions were shown to reconfigure the solid-liquid interface, facilitating mass transport and charge-transfer kinetics.
- The constructed AETC effectively alleviated mass-transfer constraints and suppressed catalyst deactivation.
- Accelerated degradation kinetics and long-term catalyst stability were achieved.
Conclusions:
- Chloride ions can transition from inhibitors to active interfacial regulators in extreme ionic environments.
- The chloride ion-driven AETC strategy offers a novel approach for enhancing hypersaline wastewater treatment.
- This work redefines the role of chloride ions in catalytic processes and environmental remediation.
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