A universal and scalable transformation of bulk metals into single-atom catalysts in ionic liquids

• Published in: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS Vol. 121; no. 10; p. e2319136121
• Main Authors: Wang, Shujuan, Lu, Minghui, Xia, Xuewen, Wang, Fei, Xiong, Xiaolu, Ding, Kai, Pang, Zhongya, Li, Guangshi, Xu, Qian, Hsu, Hsien-Yi, Hu, Shen, Ji, Li, Zhao, Yufeng, Wang, Jing, Zou, Xingli, Lu, Xionggang
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States National Academy of Sciences 05.03.2024
• Subjects: Catalysis; Catalysts; Chemical synthesis; Dissolution; Electrodeposition; Electrodissolution; Energy conversion; Graphene; Heterostructures; Hydrogen evolution reactions; Industrial applications; Ionic liquids; Metals; Oxygen evolution reactions; Physical Sciences; Scale (corrosion); Single atom catalysts; single-atom catalysts; electrodissolution–electrodeposition; HER/OER; ionic liquids
• ISSN: 0027-8424; 1091-6490; 1091-6490
• DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2319136121

Single-atom catalysts (SACs) with maximized metal atom utilization and intriguing properties are of utmost importance for energy conversion and catalysis science. However, the lack of a straightforward and scalable synthesis strategy of SACs on diverse support materials remains the bottleneck for their large-scale industrial applications. Herein, we report a general approach to directly transform bulk metals into single atoms through the precise control of the electrodissolution-electrodeposition kinetics in ionic liquids and demonstrate the successful applicability of up to twenty different monometallic SACs and one multimetallic SAC with five distinct elements. As a case study, the atomically dispersed Pt was electrodeposited onto Ni N/Ni-Co-graphene oxide heterostructures in varied scales (up to 5 cm × 5 cm) as bifunctional catalysts with the electronic metal-support interaction, which exhibits low overpotentials at 10 mA cm for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER, 30 mV) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER, 263 mV) with a relatively low Pt loading (0.98 wt%). This work provides a simple and practical route for large-scale synthesis of various SACs with favorable catalytic properties on diversified supports using alternative ionic liquids and inspires the methodology on precise synthesis of multimetallic single-atom materials with tunable compositions.