Isogenous single atom catalysts (I-SACs): A significative new concept connecting nano-catalysts and SACs

Developing high-efficiency catalytic materials is critical to present and future energy, chemical process, and environmental industries. Nano-catalysts have attracted much attention from scientists and engineers over the past few decades. In the last decade, single-atom catalysts (SACs) have flourished and shown fascinating application prospects. At present, there are obvious differences in structure and mechanism between nano-catalysts and SACs. How to achieve the grand unification of the two in material design and catalytic theory is particularly important for the development of heterogeneous catalysis. Herein, we propose a new concept of isogenous single atom catalysts (I-SACs) that tries to bridge the gap between nano-catalysis and single-atom catalysis. The nano-catalysts with abundant unsaturated low coordination metal atoms are “SACs” themselves, namely the single metal atoms dispersed on isogenous nano-matrixes (so-called I-SACs). The basic characteristics and scientific significances of I-SACs are detailly summarized. The I-SACs would become a significative concept connecting nano-catalysts and SACs in both materials and catalysis sciences. The latent challenges and designing proposals of this newly “atomic nano-system” are pointed out as well.