By the in situ X-ray absorption results, the gradually decrease of Cu oxidation state under applied potential implied that low-valence Cu (+1) species in the atomic interface of Cu–N4–C8S2 may work as the catalytic sites during an ORR process.

Oxygen-involved electrochemical reactions are crucial for plenty of energy conversion techniques. Herein, we rationally designed a carbon-based Mn–N2C2 bifunctional electrocatalyst. It exhibits a half-wave potential of 0.915 V versus reversible hydrogen electrode for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), and the overpotential is 350 mV at 10 mA cm–2 during oxygen evolution reaction (OER) in alkaline condition. Furthermore, by means of operando X-ray absorption fine structure measurements, we reveal that the bond-length-extended Mn2+–N2C2 atomic interface sites act as active centers during the ORR process, while the bond-length-shortened high-valence Mn4+–N2C2 moieties serve as the catalytic sites for OER, which is consistent with the density functional theory results. The atomic and electronic synergistic effects for the isolated Mn sites and the carbon support play a critical role to promote the oxygen-involved catalytic performance, by regulating the reaction free energy of intermediate adsorption. Our results give an atomic interface strategy for nonprecious bifunctional single-atom electrocatalysts.

The hydrosilylation reaction is one of the largest-scale application of homogeneous catalysis and is widely used to enable the commercial manufacture of silicon products. However, considerable issues including disposable platinum consumption, undesired side reactions and unacceptable catalyst residues still remain. Here, we synthesize a heterogeneous partially charged single-atom platinum supported on anatase TiO (Pt/TiO) catalyst via an electrostatic-induction ion exchange and two-dimensional confinement strategy, which can catalyze hydrosilylation reaction with almost complete conversion and produce exclusive adduct. Density functional theory calculations reveal that unexpected property of Pt/TiO originates from atomic dispersion of active species and unique partially positive charge Pt electronic structure that conventional nanocatalysts do not possess. The fabrication of single-atom Pt/TiO catalyst accomplishes a reasonable use of Pt through recycling and maximum atom-utilized efficiency, indicating the potential to achieve a green hydrosilylation industry.

It is highly desirable but challenging to optimize the structure of photocatalysts at the atomic scale to facilitate the separation of electron–hole pairs for enhanced performance. Now, a highly efficient photocatalyst is formed by assembling single Pt atoms on a defective TiO2 support (Pt1/def‐TiO2). Apart from being proton reduction sites, single Pt atoms promote the neighboring TiO2 units to generate surface oxygen vacancies and form a Pt‐O‐Ti3+ atomic interface. Experimental results and density functional theory calculations demonstrate that the Pt‐O‐Ti3+ atomic interface effectively facilitates photogenerated electrons to transfer from Ti3+ defective sites to single Pt atoms, thereby enhancing the separation of electron–hole pairs. This unique structure makes Pt1/def‐TiO2 exhibit a record‐level photocatalytic hydrogen production performance with an unexpectedly high turnover frequency of 51423 h−1, exceeding the Pt nanoparticle supported TiO2 catalyst by a factor of 591.

Development of single-site catalysts supported by ultrathin two-dimensional (2D) porous matrix with ultrahigh surface area is highly desired but also challenging. Here we report a cocoon silk chemistry strategy to synthesize isolated metal single-site catalysts embedded in ultrathin 2D porous N-doped carbon nanosheets (M-ISA/CNS, M = Fe, Co, Ni). X-ray absorption fine structure analysis and spherical aberration correction electron microscopy demonstrate an atomic dispersion of metal atoms on N-doped carbon matrix. In particular, the Co-ISA/CNS exhibit ultrahigh specific surface area (2105 m2 g−1) and high activity for C–H bond activation in the direct catalytic oxidation of benzene to phenol with hydrogen peroxide at room temperature, while the Co species in the form of phthalocyanine and metal nanoparticle show a negligible activity. Density functional theory calculations discover that the generated O = Co = O center intermediates on the single Co sites are responsible for the high activity of benzene oxidation to phenol.