Recent advances in single-atom catalysts for thermally driven reactions

Single-atom catalysts (SACs) offer various advantages in catalysis, including maximized atom-utilization efficiency, singly dispersed active sites with tailorable electronic states for achieving high catalytic activity, and specific structural geometry for tuning catalytic selectivity. These remarkable benefits ensure effective applications of SACs in numerous important reactions for realizing chemical and energy transformations, spanning from traditional thermally driven catalytic reactions to photocatalytic and electrochemical reactions. In this review, the applications of SACs in traditional thermally driven catalytic reactions are focused on to provide a clear picture of recent scientific achievements in this field to the catalysis community and to inspire more studies on the rational design of SACs for other catalytic systems.

Automated summary

Single-atom catalysts (SACs) offer various advantages in catalysis, including maximized atom-utilization efficiency, singly dispersed active sites with tailorable electronic states for achieving high catalytic activity, and specific structural geometry for tuning catalytic selectivity. This review focuses on the applications of SACs in traditional thermally driven catalytic reactions, providing a clear picture of recent scientific achievements and inspiring further studies in the rational design of SACs for other catalytic systems.