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Updated: Jan 8, 2026
Synthesis and Performance Characterizations of Transition Metal Single Atom Catalyst for Electrochemical CO2 Reduction
Published on: April 10, 2018
Non-directly bonded single-atom pairs towards H2/CO electrooxidation
Tongtong Yang1, Heng Liu2, Hengjie Liu3
1State Key Laboratory of Electroanalytic Chemistry, Jilin Province Key Laboratory of Low Carbon Chemistry Power, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun 130022, China; School of Applied Chemistry and Engineering, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China.
Isolated single atoms are inactive; adjacent pairs (under 4 Å) are the true active sites for oxidation reactions. This finding redefines bifunctional catalysis for efficient energy conversion.
Area of Science:
- Catalysis science
- Materials science
- Electrochemistry
Background:
- Single-atom catalysts (SACs) offer precise control but their cooperative behavior is not fully understood.
- Oxidative processes like H2 and CO oxidation are crucial for energy conversion.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the true active sites in single-atom systems for oxidation reactions.
- To understand the role of atomic proximity and cooperativity in catalysis.
- To redefine the mechanism of bifunctional catalysis.
Main Methods:
- Precise tuning of Rh atomic densities using graphene quantum dots confinement.
- Mathematical modeling to correlate active pairs with electrochemical performance.
- 18O isotope labeling and in situ synchrotron infrared spectroscopy.
Main Results:
- Completely isolated single atoms are inactive; spatially adjacent single-atom pairs (interatomic distance < 4 Å) are the active sites.
- Electrochemical performance scales with the density of these active pairs.
- A new reaction mechanism involving water bifunctional dissociation on Rh pairs was identified as the rate-determining step.
Conclusions:
- The active sites in SACs are cooperative pairs, not isolated atoms.
- Atomic proximity dictates catalytic activity, merging single-atom precision with nanoparticle cooperativity.
- This redefines bifunctional catalysis and offers pathways for designing efficient energy conversion systems.
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