Elucidation of single atom catalysts for energy and sustainable chemical production: Synthesis, characterization and frontier science

The emergence of single atom sites as a frontier research area in catalysis has sparked extensive academic and industrial interest, especially for energy, environmental and chemicals production processes. Single atom cata-lysts (SACs) have shown remarkable performance in a variety of catalytic reactions, demonstrating high selec-tivity to the products of interest, long lifespan, high stability and more importantly high atomic metal utilization efficiency. In this review, we unveil in depth insights on development and achievements of SACs, including (a) Chronological progress on SACs development, (b) Recent advances in SACs synthesis, (c) Spatial and temporal SACs characterization techniques, (d) Application of SACs in different energy and chemical production, (e) Environmental and economic aspects of SACs, and (f) Current challenges, promising ideas and future prospects for SACs. On a whole, this review serves to enlighten scientists and engineers in developing fundamental catalytic understanding that can be applied into the future, both for academia or valorizing chemical processes.

Automated summary

The emergence of single atom sites as a frontier research area in catalysis has attracted extensive interest, especially for energy, environmental, and chemicals production. Single atom catalysts (SACs) have shown remarkable performance in various catalytic reactions, demonstrating high selectivity, long lifespan, stability, and high atomic metal utilization efficiency. This review provides insights on the development and achievements of SACs, including chronological progress, recent advances in synthesis, characterization techniques, applications, environmental and economic aspects, and current challenges and future prospects.