Water adlayers bridging metal spillover to boost catalytic activity

Yamei Fan, Rongtan Li, Xiangze Du, Fei Wang, Xiaohui Feng, Youyuanhe Yang, Conghui Liu, Jiaxin Li, Cui Dong, Jianyang Wang, Na Ta, Wenhao Cui, Yanxiao Ning, Rentao Mu and Qiang Fu ()
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Yamei Fan: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Rongtan Li: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Xiangze Du: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Fei Wang: Kunming University of Science and Technology
Xiaohui Feng: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Youyuanhe Yang: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Conghui Liu: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Jiaxin Li: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Cui Dong: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Jianyang Wang: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Na Ta: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Wenhao Cui: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Yanxiao Ning: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Rentao Mu: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Qiang Fu: Chinese Academy of Sciences

Nature Communications, 2025, vol. 16, issue 1, 1-10

Abstract: Abstract Hydrogen spillover has been extensively studied in heterogeneous catalysis, whereas the analogous migration of metal species remains largely underexplored. Here, we report a spillover phenomenon for metal species, exemplified by copper, which spontaneously migrates across physically contacted hydrophilic supports under humid ambient conditions. This process is facilitated by water adlayers on support surfaces, which act as molecular bridges to enable surface and interfacial migration of cooper species via hydroxylated intermediates. The phenomenon is universal across diverse supports, including oxides, carbides, and sulfides, and extends to metals such as ruthenium, cobalt, and nickel. Remarkably, catalysts prepared via this spillover approach exhibit substantially enhanced low-temperature activity in reactions including carbon monoxide oxidation, reverse water-gas shift, selective catalyst reduction with ammonia, and hydrogen cyanide oxidation, outperforming counterparts prepared by conventional impregnation. This work redefines the spillover phenomenon by extending it to metal species through water adlayer-mediated migration, opening new avenues for the design of dynamic catalysts.

Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-64420-z

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