Understanding the structure-performance relationship of active sites at atomic scale

Metal-based atomically dispersed catalysts have attracted more attention because of their excellent catalytic performance and nearly 100% atom utilization. Therefore, it is very important to comprehensively and systematically understand the relationship between catalytic active sites and catalytic performance at atomic scale. Here, we discuss and summarize in detail the key and fundamental factors affecting the active site, and relate them to the catalytic performance. First, we describe the effectiveness of active site design by coordination effects. Then, the role of chemical bonds in the active sites in changing the reaction performance is discussed. In addition, for intermetallic compounds, we explore how…