Recently, the CPC Shaanxi Provincial Committee and the Shaanxi Provincial People’s Government issued the Decision on the 2025 Shaanxi Provincial Science and Technology Awards. The achievement “Basic Research on Efficient Electrocatalytic Conversion of Small Energy Molecules” by Professor Cao Rui's team won the First Prize of the Shaanxi Provincial Natural Science Award.

Efficient electrocatalytic conversion of small energy molecules is a key pathway for achieving clean energy storage and utilization. Its core reactions—hydrogen evolution via water reduction, oxygen evolution via water oxidation, and oxygen reduction—all involve multi-electron and multi-proton transfer processes. The morphology of electrode interfaces is complex, and the academic community lacks a clear microscopic understanding of the related electrode processes. To address these scientific challenges, Professor Cao Rui's team systematically studied the kinetic characteristics of the electrode processes in the electrocatalytic conversion of small energy molecules by designing the coordination structures and spatial configurations of molecular catalysts, constructing specifically ordered physical and chemical structures of catalysts, and regulating the chemical bonding modes between catalysts and supports. This project elucidated and regulated multiple reaction mechanisms, including hydrogen-hydrogen bond formation, oxygen-oxygen bond formation, and oxygen-oxygen bond cleavage. It revealed the influence patterns of internal proton transfer in catalysts and interfacial substrate transport on catalytic performance, clarified the influence mechanism of the connection mode between catalysts and supports on charge transfer efficiency, and expanded the fundamental kinetic theory of electrocatalytic small-molecule conversion reactions.