Single-Atom Catalysts: Unveiling Synthesis Strategies and Catalytic Potential
Guest Speaker： Senior Researcher. Yazhou Zhou，University of Ostrava，Czech Republic
Inviter: Assoc.Prof. Feili Lai
Date&Time: Saturday, 27th Sep. 10:30-11:30
Venue: Yiucheng Lecture Hall (500), Xu Zuayo Building
Biography:
Dr. Yazhou Zhou is Senior Researcher/group leader in VSV-TUO (Czech Republic) and Senior Postdoctoral Researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research (MPI-P), supervised by Prof. Klaus Müllen. His research focuses on heterogeneous catalysis, particularly single-atom catalysts (SACs), with emphasis on rational design, precise synthesis, and structure–performance relationships for applications in electrocatalysis, photocatalysis, and CO₂ conversion.
He has published over 90 papers in leading journals including Nat. Commun., J. Am. Chem. Soc., Angew. Chem., Adv. Mater., Adv. Energy Mater., and Adv. Funct. Mater. His work has been cited more than 3,500 times with an H-index of 33. Dr. Zhou has led and participated in major projects funded by the EU Horizon program, the German Research Foundation (DFG), and the Refresh initiative.
Abstract:
Heterogeneous catalysis plays an indispensable tool in modern industrial processes. When supported nanoparticles are downsized to the single-atom limit, the resulting single-atom catalysts (SACs) have proven special value. These individually dispersed metal sites possess defined coordination structures and enabled reaction pathways that differ from traditional heterogeneous catalysis. While offering high stability even in harsh environments, and maximum utilization of catalytic metals, SACs also satisfy the key goals of a sustainable chemistry. Nevertheless, limited reproducibility and scalability of SAC preparation hinder their further practical applications, and efficient methods of SAC synthesis are urgently needed. A major challenge is to prepare single-atom sites on the catalyst support with high density while avoiding aggregation of metal atoms. This challenge can be traced to the trade-off between diffusion and stabilization of metal atoms during the pyrolysis process. In this talk, several approaches will be presented. These methods will discuss how the metal resources including ions, organometallic complexes, and particles are transformed into single atoms and their possible mechanisms. This work is a critical step forward toward a scalable synthesis and widespread application of dense SACs and pavs the way for the development of further economically feasible catalyst systems.