Copper Single‐Atom Catalysts—A Rising Star for Energy Conversion and Environmental Purification: Synthesis, Modification, and Advanced Applications

Abstract

Future renewable energy supply and green, sustainable environmental development rely on various types of catalytic reactions. Copper single‐atom catalysts (Cu SACs) are attractive due to their distinctive electronic structure (3d orbitals are not filled with valence electrons), high atomic utilization, and excellent catalytic performance and selectivity. Despite numerous optimization studies are conducted on Cu SACs in terms of energy conversion and environmental purification, the coupling among Cu atoms–support interactions, active sites, and catalytic performance remains unclear, and a systematic review of Cu SACs is lacking. To this end, this work summarizes the recent advances of Cu SACs. The synthesis strategies of Cu SACs, metal–support interactions between Cu single atoms and different supports, modification methods including modification for carriers, coordination environment regulating, site distance effect utilizing, and dual metal active center catalysts constructing, as well as their applications in energy conversion and environmental purification are emphatically introduced. Finally, the opportunities and challenges for the future Cu SACs development are discussed. This review aims to provide insight into Cu SACs and a reference for their optimal design and wide application.