Catalytic elimination of chlorinated organic pollutants by emerging single-atom catalysts

Chlorinated organic pollutants (COPs) are bioaccumulative, hazardous, and potentially carcinogenic, threatening human health and ecosystems. Catalytic degradation using single-atom catalysts (SACs) is emerging as a promising technology for COPs removal, accomplishing high efficiency in both aqueous and gaseous environ-ments. This review systematically summarizes the recent development in catalytic degradation of COPs using a variety of SACs, focusing on the understanding of structure-performance relationships and key mechanisms involved. First, the SACs-promoted COPs dechlorination through the reduction process is evaluated. Second, the oxidation process for COPs degradation is presented, followed by the discussion of the synergic reduc-tion-oxidation degradation process. Last, the existing challenges in this field and possible solutions are proposed, hoping to offer inspiration and guidance for the future applications of SACs in COPs elimination.