Rational design and energy catalytic application of high-loading single-atom catalysts

It is well known that single-atom catalysts (SACs) have become a hot topic in the field of catalysis due to their advantages such as 100% metal atom utilization efficiency, high catalytic activity and selectivity compared with conventional catalysts and nanocatalysts. However, the isolated metal atoms on SACs have thermodynamic instability and tend to agglomerate, which limit their catalytic performance. Therefore, it is of great significance to synthesize stable and high-loading single-atom catalysts (HLSACs). In this paper, we review the research progress of HLSACs from two aspects: design and application. Firstly, we comprehensively introduce the synthesis strategies of HLSACs, namely, top-down and bottom-up methods. Secondly, we overview the application status of HLSACs in three fields: electrocatalysis, thermal catalysis and photocatalysis. Finally, we summarize the development prospects and challenges of HLSACs. Graphical abstract: (Figure presented.)