Recent process in developing advanced heterogeneous diatomic-site metal catalysts for electrochemical CO2 reduction

Diatomic-site catalysts (DASCs) have emerged as a kind of promising heterogeneous candidate catalysts for electrochemical CO2 reduction (ECR), which is considered to retain the advantage of single-atom catalysts (SACs) but also introduce opportunities to exceed the limit of single-atom catalysts. In the past few years, tremendous progress has been achieved in this field. Herein, the recent progress in ECR on DASCs has been summarized. It will start with the classification of DASCs. Then the challenges in the precise fabrication and characterization of DASCs have been emphasized. By introducing the advanced ECR performance on DASCs, superior to that on SACs, the synergistic effects of the dual metal atoms are highlighted, as this origin of the advanced ECR performance on DASCs is comprehensively summarized. Finally, the major challenges and perspectives of DASCs have been proposed to shed light on the development of DASCs for ECR application.