Towards dense single-atom catalysts for future automotive applications

CO oxidation is an important primary reaction in automotive catalysis, and has been studied extensively since the 1970s because of its fundamental nature and technological relevance to emission control regulations. In this Review, we investigate the development of state-of-the-art catalysts for CO oxidation and consider the important achievements in the design of good catalysts via a detailed scrutiny of CO oxidation pathways for single-atom and few-atom cluster catalysis, which constitute a subset of the emerging technology of atomically dispersed and nanostructured oxide-supported catalysts. We see a recent effort towards achieving high-performance catalysts via chemical potential tuning, in which the size, structure, shape and degree of alloys are controlled to alter the electronic structure, catalyst-oxide support interactions and resulting interactions between adsorbates and the catalyst. We present a missing link in modern catalysis research in terms of the future development of automotive catalysts and related issues that must be satisfactorily resolved for sustainable and environment-friendly solutions.