Single-atom catalysis: a promising avenue for precisely controlling reaction pathways

Abstract

Single-atom catalysts (SACs), characterized by exceptionally high atom efficiency, have garnered significant attention across various catalytic reactions. Recent studies have showcased SACs with robust capabilities for precise catalysis, specifically targeting reactions along designated pathways. This review focuses on the advances in the precise activation and reconstruction of chemical bonds on SACs, including precise activation of C–O and C–H bonds and selective couplings involving C–C and C–N bonds. Our discussion begins with a thorough exploration of the factors that render SACs skilled in precise catalytic processes, encompassing the narrow d-band electronic state of single atom site resulting in the adsorption tendency, isolate site resulting in unique adsorption structure, and synergy effect of a single atom site with its neighbors. Subsequently, we elaborate on the applications of SACs in electrocatalysis and thermocatalysis including four prominent reactions, namely, electrochemical CO₂ reduction, urea electrochemical synthesis, CO₂ hydrogenation, and CH₄ activation. Then the concept of rational design of SACs for precisely controlling reaction pathways is discussed from the aspects of pore structure design, support-metal strong interaction, and support hydrophilic/hydrophobic. Finally, we summarize the challenges encountered by SACs in the field of precise catalytic processes and outline prospects for their further development in this domain.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

single atom catalysts / selective oxidation / CO₂RR / bond coupling

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Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant No. XDB0600200), the National Key Research and Development Program of China (Grant No. 2021YFA1500502), the NSFC Center for Single-Atom Catalysis (Grant No. 22388102), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 22102176, U19A2015 and 21925803), CAS Project for Young Scientists in Basic Research (Grant Nos.YSBR-051, YSBR-022). The authors gratefully acknowledge the support of Photon Science Center for Carbon Neutrality.

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