SINGLE ATOM ELECTROCATALYSTS FOR ENERGY APPLICATIONS

Abstract

Single atom catalysts (SACs) originated from the steady down-sizing of noble and expensive metal nanoparticles/clusters, supported on porous substrates, where one of the initial objectives was to increase the utilization of the high cost metals. Compared with the traditional nanoparticle-based heterogeneous catalysts, SACs with an unsaturated coordination environment on the surface, can endow each and every single atom with superior catalytic activity, and the unique overall structure gives rise to the excellent selectivity. In this thesis, a series of transition metal (Co, Ni, Cu)-based SACs were prepared on conductive nitrogen-doped carbon supports, respectively. By combining studies using scanning transmission electron microscopy and X-ray absorption fine structure, we found that these single metal atoms could be well stabilized via appropriate chemical bonds to neighboring nitrogen atoms. Various electrochemical conversion reactions have been investigated and the relationships between chemical coordination and catalytic performance are further explained by density functional theory.