On the Tracks to “Smart” Single-Atom Catalysts

Despite their enormous impact in modern heterogeneous catalysis, single-atom catalysts (SACs) continue to puzzle the catalysis community, which often struggles to draw correct conclusions in SAC-catalyzed experiments. In many cases, the reasons for such an uncertainty originate from the lack of knowledge of the exact single-atom evolution under operative conditions and the fundamental factors controlling the fate of the single atom in relation to the catalytic mechanism. This has led to confusion also about correct definition and terminology, where the coined term single-site catalysts reflects the difficulty in defining the true active species as well as in obtaining long-range ordered homogeneous supports…

• EC
  European Commission

  Awards: PRIN 2022, 101079384, HORIZON-WIDERA-2021-ACCESS-03, 101130717
• MD
  Ministero dell'Università e della Ricerca
• N
  NextGenerationEU