Single‐Atom Heterogeneous Catalysts

Single-atom catalysts (SACs) are catalysts in which the active metal species either exist as isolated single atoms stabilized by the support or exist by alloying with another metal. This chapter reviews some of the recent research on SACs, focusing on various preparation methods and discusses the concepts and advantages of SACs. SACs have attracted much attention in the catalysis community due to the maximum atom use efficiency and unique catalytic properties. The chapter summarizes a few common methods for synthesis of SACs, including physical methods and chemical methods. Physical synthesis of SACs can be realized through high vacuum physical deposition. Chemical methods can be categorized according to how their components are integrated, namely, via bottom-up or top-down approaches. The bottom-up approach, including coprecipitation, adsorption, and galvanic replacement methods, is the most common strategy to synthesize SACs.