Cooperation of Carboxylate and Sulfonate Ligands in a High-Efficiency Ru Catalyst for Electrocatalytic Ammonia Oxidation

: the coordinated carboxylate provides strong electron donation to lower the redox potential and the energy barrier of the rate-determining step, while the dangling sulfonate group enables efficient proton shuttling without competing with the key active site. This work establishes ruthenium complexes with bifunctional ligand environments as promising molecular platforms for the efficient conversion of ammonia to nitrogen.