Highly Active and Stable Metal Single-Atom Catalysts Achieved by Strong Electronic Metal–Support Interactions

Developing an active and stable metal single-atom catalyst (SAC) is challenging due to the high surface free energy of metal atoms. In this work, we report that tailoring of the 5d state of Pt1 single atoms on Co3O4 through strong electronic metal–support interactions (EMSIs) boosts the activity up to 68-fold higher than those on other supports in dehydrogenation of ammonia borane for room-temperature hydrogen generation. More importantly, this catalyst also exhibits excellent stability against sintering and leaching, in sharp contrast to the rapid deactivation observed on other Pt single-atom and nanoparticle catalysts. Detailed spectroscopic characterization and theoretical calculations revealed that the…

• NN
  National Natural Science Foundation of China

  Awards: 21533007, 21673215, U1632263
• MO
  Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China

  Awards: WK3430000005, WK2060030029
• M
  Max-Planck-Gesellschaft
• UO
  University of Science and Technology of China
• NS
  National Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory
• HS
  Hefei Science Center, Chinese Academy of Sciences
• FR
  Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities