Metal-organic framework assisted synthesis of single-atom catalysts for energy applications

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Abstract
Metal single-atom catalysts (M-SACs) are emerging as a new research frontier because of their low-coordination metal atoms and uniform structures. As a representation of maximum atom utilization efficiency, M-SACs demonstrate unique properties in a wide variety of heterogeneous catalysis and electrocatalytic processes [1,2]. Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are composed of metal-containing nodes and organic linkers, and are typically characterized as atomically dispersed metal sites. With the versatility of metal ions and ligands, the direct pyrolysis of MOFs serves as an ideal route for preparing various M-SACs. However, this seemingly simple strategy is still highly challenging due to the drastic reactive processes that occur at high temperature that rapidly convert metal ions into aggregated nanoparticles. Very recently, Yadong Li et al. developed a general synthetic strategy for M-SAC preparation by utilizing particular zeolitic imidazolate frameworks (ZIFs)—a kind of MOF that are topologically isomorphic with zeolites [3–5]. The resultant M-SACs (M = Fe, Co, Ni) demonstrated excellent activities for energy-related electrocatalytic reactions.