Chinese Journal of Catalysis ›› 2023, Vol. 50: 195-214.DOI: 10.1016/S1872-2067(23)64456-0

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Non-noble metal single atom catalysts for electrochemical energy conversion reactions

Sang Eon Juna,b, Sungkyun Choia, Jaehyun Kima, Ki Chang Kwonb,*(), Sun Hwa Parkb,*(), Ho Won Janga,c,*()   

  1. aDepartment of Materials Science and Engineering, Research Institute of Advanced Materials, Seoul National University, Seoul 08826, Republic of Korea
    bInterdisciplinary Materials Measurement Institute, Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science, Daejeon 34113, Republic of Korea
    cAdvanced Institute of Convergence Technology, Seoul National University, Suwon 16229, Republic of Korea
  • Received:2023-03-15 Accepted:2023-05-15 Online:2023-07-18 Published:2023-07-25
  • Contact: *E-mail: kichang.kwon@kriss.re.kr (K. C. Kwon), PSH@kriss.re.kr (S. H. Park),hwjang@snu.ac.kr (H. W. Jang).
  • About author:Ki Chang Kwon is a Senior Research Scientist of the Interdisciplinary Materials Measurement Institute in Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science (KRISS). He earned his Ph.D. from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering in Seoul National University in 2018 under supervision of prof. Ho Won Jang. He worked as a Postdoctoral research staff at Seoul National University at 2018 and at National University of Singapore (NUS) from 2018 to 2021. His research interests include the synthesis of low dimensional materials (1D & 2D), and halide perovskites, and their applications for nanoelectronics, solar water splitting catalysts, and chemoresistive gas sensors.
    Sun Hwa Park (Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science) received her Ph.D from the Nanomaterials Science and Engineering at University of Science and Technology in 2013. She joined Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science as a senior research scientist in 2014 and became a principal research scientist in 2023. She worked at the University of California at Riverside as a visiting scholar in 2018. Her research interests currently focus on the synthesis of nanoengineered materials based on electrochemistry and the application of these materials in a variety of fields including electrocatalysis, energy storage systems and sensors. Her recent ongoing research includes the development of reliable electrochemical measurement and evaluation techniques related to water electrolysis system and lithium-ion batteries.
    Ho Won Jang is a full professor in Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Seoul National University. He earned his Ph.D from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering of Pohang University of Science and Technology in 2004. He worked as a research associate at University of Madison-Wisconsin from 2006 to 2009. Before he joined Seoul National University in 2012, he had worked at Korea Institute of Science and Technology as a senior research scientist. He is a member of Young Korean Academy of Science and Technology and is serving as an associate editor for journals, Exploration and Eco Energy. His research interests include materials synthesis and device fabrication for solar fuel generation, chemical sensing, nonvolatile data storage, neuromorphic computing, plasmonics, ferroelectronics, and metal-insulator transition. He has published more than 500 papers in international refereed journals.

Abstract:

Non-noble metal single atom catalysts (NNMSACs) are being pursued as economical alternatives to noble-metal SACs while retaining the high catalytic activity derived from the unique electronic structure of the single atomic sites. NNMSACs can serve crucial roles in various electrocatalytic reactions with high atomic utilization efficiency and selectivity comparable to noble metal SACs via adequate metal-support interactions. To this end, this review summarizes the characteristics of NNMSACs with regard to tuning reaction selectivity, metal-support interaction, and catalytic active center. Subsequently, an extensive summary of representative NNMSACs (Co, Ni, Fe, Cu, and dual metal SACs) is introduced for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), oxygen evolution reaction (OER), oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), carbon dioxide reduction reaction (CO2RR), and nitrogen reduction reaction (NRR). Finally, we present a brief conclusion and the remaining challenges for further advances of NNMSACs in geometric, electronic, and electrochemical properties.

Key words: ingle atom catalysts, Non-noble metals, Electrocatalysis, Water splitting, CO2 reduction