Strong metal-support interaction promoted scalable production of thermally stable single-atom catalysts

  • Kaipeng Liu
  • , Xintian Zhao
  • , Guoqing Ren
  • , Tao Yang
  • , Yujing Ren
  • , Adam Fraser Lee
  • , Yang Su
  • , Xiaoli Pan
  • , Jingcai Zhang
  • , Zhiqiang Chen
  • , Jingyi Yang
  • , Xiaoyan Liu
  • , Tong Zhou
  • , Wei Xi
  • , Jun Luo
  • , Chaobin Zeng
  • , Hiroaki Matsumoto
  • , Wei Liu
  • , Qike Jiang
  • , Karen Wilson
  • Aiqin Wang, Botao Qiao, Weizhen Li, Tao Zhang

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

308 Scopus citations

Abstract

Single-atom catalysts (SACs) have demonstrated superior catalytic performance in numerous heterogeneous reactions. However, producing thermally stable SACs, especially in a simple and scalable way, remains a formidable challenge. Here, we report the synthesis of Ru SACs from commercial RuO2 powders by physical mixing of sub-micron RuO2 aggregates with a MgAl1.2Fe0.8O4 spinel. Atomically dispersed Ru is confirmed by aberration-corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy and X-ray absorption spectroscopy. Detailed studies reveal that the dispersion process does not arise from a gas atom trapping mechanism, but rather from anti-Ostwald ripening promoted by a strong covalent metal-support interaction. This synthetic strategy is simple and amenable to the large-scale manufacture of thermally stable SACs for industrial applications.

Original languageEnglish
Article number1263
JournalNature Communications
Volume11
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Dec 2020
Externally publishedYes

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Strong metal-support interaction promoted scalable production of thermally stable single-atom catalysts'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this