Dual metal atom catalysts: Advantages in electrocatalytic reactions

The dual-metal-atom catalysts (DACs) have aroused much attention as they possess the advantages of single-atom and metal alloy catalysts. And the DACs have exhibited enhanced performance in various electrocatalytic reactions, such as hydrogen/oxygen evolution and oxygen/carbon dioxide/nitrogen reduction. In this review, we mainly overview the latest understanding of the advantages of DACs for these reactions. This review will start with the familiar characterization methods for DACs, then the primary synthesis strategies for DACs will be discussed. Emphasis is given to the advantages of DACs in catalytic reactions, including the adsorption and activation, electronic structure regulation, breaking scaling relations, reducing energy barriers, cascading and coupling, synergy effect, and providing mechanism research platforms. Finally, personal perspectives and challenges for the further development of DACs are briefly discussed.