Recently, Professor Jing Guo  from the School of Chemistry of Beijing Normal University, Professor Ying Jiang  from the Quantum Materials Center of the School of Physics, Peking University, Researcher Ji Chen  from the School of Physics, Peking University, and Academician Enge Wang  from Peking University/Chinese Academy of Sciences have cooperated to use high-resolution qPlus atomic force microscopy technology. 

For the first time, atomic-level resolution images of protons in the water layer were taken, and it was found that hydrated protons with two configurations, Eigen and Zundel, could exist stably on the solid surface, and further revealed a new mechanism for the proton transfer process at the water/solid interface. The work, titled "Visualizing Eigen/Zundel cations and their interconversion in monolayer water on metal surfaces", was published in the top international academic journal Science on July 15.

Links to papers: Y. Tian, J. Hong, D. Cao, S. You, Y. Song, B. Cheng, Z. Wang, D. Guan, X. Liu, Z. Zhao, X.-Z. Li, L.-M. Xu, J. Guo*, J. Chen*, E.-G.Wang* and Y. Jiang*, Visualizing Eigen/Zundel cations and their interconversion in monolayer water on metal surfaces, Science 377, 315- 319 (2022). (https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abo0823)