Rare Earth Single-Atom Catalysts for Nitrogen and Carbon Dioxide Reduction

Single-atom catalysts (SACs) have attracted much attention owning to their high catalytic properties. Herein, yttrium and scandium rare earth SACs are successfully synthesized on a carbon support (Y₁/NC and Sc₁/NC). Different from the well-known M-N₄ structure of M-N-C (M = Fe, Co) catalysts, Sc and Y atoms with a large atomic radius tend to be anchored to the large-sized carbon defects through six coordination bonds of nitrogen and carbon. Although Y- and Sc-based nanomaterials are generally inactive to room-temperature electrochemical reactions, Y₁/NC and Sc₁/NC SACs exhibit catalytic activities to nitrogen reduction reaction and carbon dioxide reduction reaction due to the modulation of the local electronic structure of Y/Sc single atoms by N and C coordination. The catalytic functions of rare earth single atoms not only demonstrate the magical effect of SACs but also promote the application of rare earth catalysts in room-temperature electrochemical reactions.