Synergistic Effect of Single-Atom Catalysts and Vacancies of Support for Versatile Catalytic Applications

The combination of single-atom catalysts and vacancy engineering is an emerging hotspot in the field of single-atom catalysis. The existence of vacancies provides additional adsorption sites, which can increase the adsorption capacity and diffusion rate of reactant molecules. Single atoms have single-height atom utilization and steric hindrance effects. The two synergistically show different activation and synergistic processes on different defect materials. Under the synergistic effect of vacancies and single-atom catalysts, they can affect the adsorption orientation of reactants on the catalyst surface and the formation of intermediate configurations, thereby regulating the reaction path and product selectivity, greatly enhancing the catalytic performance, and maximizing the catalytic effect of the material itself. Therefore, the synergistic effect between pervacancies and single-atom catalysts can realize more efficient, sustainable, and economical catalytic reaction systems, possessing high-efficiency performance in photocatalysis, electrocatalysis and thermocatalysis, and setting off a new wave in the fields of energy conversion, environmental protection, and organic synthesis. Therefore, catalysts constructed by vacancies and single atoms have broad and bright application prospects. For the first time, this review article have summarized the synergistic effect of single-atom catalysts and vacancies of support for versatile catalytic applications. image