Metal-Organic-Framework-Based Single-Atom Catalysts for Energy Applications

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have demonstrated their great potential for creating single-atom catalysts (SACs) in the last 2 years. In this review, we provide a sketch about the critical roles of SACs and some key issues that have to be contended while considering their energy applications. The great opportunities provided by MOFs for the further development of SACs are discussed in the sections that follow. Furthermore, we summarize the reported approaches and illustrate the potential strategies for the construction of MOF-based SACs by taking advantage of the structural features of MOFs. The accessible characterization techniques for SACs are briefly assessed. In addition, a series of representative reports on the successful fabrication of MOF-based SACs for energy-related applications (mainly photocatalysis and electrocatalysis) are overviewed. Finally, some foresighted ideas and predictions on the future directions of MOF-based SACs are pointed out.