Ambient Synthesis of Single-Atom Catalysts from Bulk Metal via Trapping of Atoms by Surface Dangling Bonds

Yunteng Qu; Liguang Wang; Zhijun Li; Peng Li; Qinghua Zhang; Yue Lin; Fangyao Zhou; Huijuan Wang; Zhengkun Yang; Yidong Hu; Mengzhao Zhu; Xuyan Zhao; Xiao Han; Chengming Wang; Qian Xu; Lin Gu; Jun Luo; Lirong Zheng; Yuen Wu

doi:10.1002/adma.201904496

Ambient Synthesis of Single-Atom Catalysts from Bulk Metal via Trapping of Atoms by Surface Dangling Bonds

Adv Mater. 2019 Nov;31(44):e1904496. doi: 10.1002/adma.201904496. Epub 2019 Sep 11.

Authors

Yunteng Qu¹, Liguang Wang², Zhijun Li³, Peng Li¹, Qinghua Zhang⁴, Yue Lin⁵, Fangyao Zhou¹, Huijuan Wang⁶, Zhengkun Yang¹, Yidong Hu¹, Mengzhao Zhu¹, Xuyan Zhao¹, Xiao Han¹, Chengming Wang⁵, Qian Xu⁷, Lin Gu⁴, Jun Luo⁸, Lirong Zheng⁹, Yuen Wu¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemistry, Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, iChEM (Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Energy Materials), University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, 230026, China.
² X-ray Science Division, Argonne National Laboratory, 9700 South Cass Avenue, Lemont, IL, 60439, USA.
³ Provincial Key Laboratory of Oil and Gas Chemical Technology, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Northeast Petroleum University, Daqing, 163318, P. R. China.
⁴ Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100190, P. R. China.
⁵ Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, 230026, China.
⁶ USTC Center for Micro and Nanoscale Research and Fabrication, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, 230026, China.
⁷ National Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, 230026, China.
⁸ Center for Electron Microscopy and Tianjin Key Lab of Advanced Functional Porous Materials, Institute for New Energy Materials and Low-Carbon Technologies, School of Materials, Tianjin University of Technology, Tianjin, 300384, China.
⁹ Institute of High Energy Physics, Beijing, 100049, China.

PMID: 31512296
DOI: 10.1002/adma.201904496

Abstract

Single-atom catalysts (SACs) feature the maximum atom economy and superior performance for various catalysis fields, attracting tremendous attention in materials science. However, conventional synthesis of SACs involves high energy consumption at high temperature, complicated procedures, a massive waste of metal species, and poor yields, greatly impeding their development. Herein, a facile dangling bond trapping strategy to construct SACs under ambient conditions from easily accessible bulk metals (such as Fe, Co, Ni, and Cu) is presented. When mixing graphene oxide (GO) slurry with metal foam and drying in ambient conditions, the M⁰ would transfer electrons to the dangling oxygen groups on GO, obtaining M^δ+ (0 < δ < 3) species. Meanwhile, M^δ+ coordinates with the surface oxygen dangling bonds of GO to form MO bonds. Subsequently, the metal atoms are pulled out of the metal foam by the MO bonds under the assistance of sonication to give M SAs/GO materials. This synthesis at room temperature from bulk metals provides a versatile platform for facile and low-cost fabrication of SACs, crucial for their mass production and practical application in diverse industrial reactions.

Keywords: Zn-air batteries; ambient synthesis; bulk metals; single-atom catalysts; surface dangling bonds.

Abstract

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