In organic synthesis, heterogeneous catalysts have many merits, such as easy
separation, cheapness, stabilization, reusability, and environment friendliness. In the
past decades, the research on heterogeneous catalysts has made great progress. The
particle size of the catalysts reduced from micrometer to nanometer, and further to
single atomic level, while the conversion, selectivity and stability increased with
reducing the particle size. Especially, in the recent five years, the single atom catalysts
have shown excellent stability and high activity in many catalytic reactions, such as CO
oxidation, hydrogenation of C=C bonds, oxidation of benzene, hydrogenation of
nitroarenes, etc. Single atom catalysts have great potential in organic synthesis due to
the combination of the advantages of homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysts.
Herein, we will introduce the synthesis and catalytic application of atomically
dispersed precious metals (Pd, Pt, Au, Ag, Rh, Ir, Os) or non-precious metals (Fe, Co,
Cu, Ni, Mn) anchored onto the framework of supports (e.g. metal, metal oxide, metal
hydroxide, graphene, metal organic frameworks and zeolites). The strong interaction
between the single atom and support is accompanied by the charge transfer between the
metal and support, which leads to a change in the electronic structure, thereby
endowing its excellent catalytic performanc
Keywords: CO oxidation, CO2 reduction, Cluster, EXAFS, Heterogeneous
catalysis, Hydrogenation, MOF, Oxygen reduction, Single atom, Water splitting.
