An ingenious strategy toward single-atom photocatalytic methane conversion

Single-atom catalyst (SAC) is believed to possess huge application prospects in catalysis and energy storage/conversion. However, the rational design of SAC with a specific function remains somewhat elusive, especially in complex catalytic systems involving multiple steps, such as methane conversion. This article previews the latest finding published by Schröder and co-workers in Nature Materials, in which they report the ingenious incorporation of mono-iron hydroxyl into the pore of a metal-organic framework, thus demonstrating a strategy for C-H bond activation in CH₄ to drive the direct photosynthesis of CH₃OH.