Single-Atom Catalysts: A New Frontier

in Heterogeneous Catalysis
XIAO-FENG YANG,† AIQIN WANG,† BOTAO QIAO,† JUN LI,‡,*
JINGYUE LIU,§, †,* AND TAO ZHANG†,*
†
State Key Laboratory of Catalysis, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics,
Chinese Academy of Sciences, Dalian 116023, China, ‡Department of Chemistry,
Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China, and §Department of Physics,
Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona 85287, United States
RECEIVED ON DECEMBER 31, 2012

CONSPECTUS

S upported metal nanostructures are the most widely used type

of heterogeneous catalyst in industrial processes. The size of
metal particles is a key factor in determining the performance of such
catalysts. In particular, because low-coordinated metal atoms often
function as the catalytically active sites, the specific activity per metal
atom usually increases with decreasing size of the metal particles.
However, the surface free energy of metals increases significantly
with decreasing particle size, promoting aggregation of small
clusters. Using an appropriate support material that strongly inter-
acts with the metal species prevents this aggregation, creating
stable, finely dispersed metal clusters with a high catalytic activity,
an approach industry has used for a long time. Nevertheless,
practical supported metal catalysts are inhomogeneous and usually consist of a mixture of sizes from nanoparticles to
subnanometer clusters. Such heterogeneity not only reduces the metal atom efficiency but also frequently leads to undesired
side reactions. It also makes it extremely difficult, if not impossible, to uniquely identify and control the active sites of interest.
The ultimate small-size limit for metal particles is the single-atom catalyst (SAC), which contains isolated metal atoms singly
dispersed on supports. SACs maximize the efficiency of metal atom use, which is particularly important for supported noble metal
catalysts. Moreover, with well-defined and uniform single-atom dispersion, SACs offer great potential for achieving high activity
and selectivity.
In this Account, we highlight recent advances in preparation, characterization, and catalytic performance of SACs, with a focus
on single atoms anchored to metal oxides, metal surfaces, and graphene. We discuss experimental and theoretical studies for a
variety of reactions, including oxidation, water gas shift, and hydrogenation. We describe advances in understanding the spatial
arrangements and electronic properties of single atoms, as well as their interactions with the support. Single metal atoms on
support surfaces provide a unique opportunity to tune active sites and optimize the activity, selectivity, and stability of
heterogeneous catalysts, offering the potential for applications in a variety of industrial chemical reactions.

1. Introduction actually involved in catalysis, with some of them acting as

There is strength in numbers. This old saying has been the active centers in the catalytic process. The supported
widespread for thousands of years; however, not every- metal catalysts usually consist of an assembly of metal
thing fits such a case. In heterogeneous catalysis by sup- particles with broad size distributions and irregular mor-
ported metal nanostructures, enormous efforts have been phology, and each metal particle may possess multiple
devoted toward improving the performance of supported active sites with different performances. Such heterogene-
metal catalysts by downsizing the metal particles. In such ity affects the efficient utilization of metal active sites and
catalysts, metal components are generally finely dispersed thus reduces selectivity toward a specific product. The size
on a high-surface-area support, and only a small portion is of metal particles therefore becomes one of the most
1740 ’ ACCOUNTS OF CHEMICAL RESEARCH ’ 1740–1748 ’ 2013 ’ Vol. 46, No. 8 Published on the Web 07/01/2013 www.pubs.acs.org/accounts
10.1021/ar300361m & 2013 American Chemical Society
 Single-Atom Catalysts Yang et al.

FIGURE 1. Schematic diagrams illustrate different types of SACs: Metal single atoms anchored to (a) metal oxide, (b) metal surfaces, and (c) graphene.

critical factors determining the reactivity and specificity of etc. Ion-exchanged metals supported on porous materials
supported metal catalysts. such as metal
organic frameworks (MOFs) and zeolites, as
Size reduction of metal particles also benefits the perfor- well as organometallic complexes anchored to supports, in
mance of catalysts in other aspects: (1) low-coordination principle could also be viewed as SACs.17,20,21 In this Ac-
environment of metal centers, which is ascribed to the count, we will focus on investigations of single metal atoms
unsaturated metal atoms exposed on the small-sized anchored to metal oxides, metal surfaces, and graphene.
particles;1,2 (2) quantum size effects, where confinement of
electrons leads to a discrete energy level distributions and a 2. Experimental Findings about SACs
distinctive HOMO
LUMO gap;3,4 (3) metal
support interac- While SACs are of great interest and potential in hetero-
tions, which originate from the chemical bonding effect geneous catalysis, experimental preparation and character-
between metal and supports and the associated interface, ization of SACs are challenging. It was not clear for a long
as well as the charge transfer between metal species and time whether SACs could be experimentally attainable,
supports.5,6 As a result, nanoclusters of metals usually show catalytically active, or stable in chemical processes. Recent
a distinct size effect on their reactivities.7
9 Recent theoretical technological advances have made it possible to prepare
and experimental studies have demonstrated that subnan- and unambiguously characterize SACs.12,16,18,22
45
ometer-sized metal clusters can sometimes have better 2.1. Preparation of SACs. A prerequisite for the applica-
catalytic activity or selectivity than the nanometer-sized tion of SACs is to prepare highly dispersed single atoms of a
counterparts.10
16 An example of such size effect is that the defined species on appropriate supports. However, fabrica-
chemically inert gold exhibits extraordinary catalytic perfor- tion of such SACs is a major challenge because of the
mance in many heterogeneous reactions upon downsizing tendency of aggregation of single metal atoms. Previously,
bulk gold to nanoparticles or even to subnanoclusters.7,10 by using mass-selected soft-landing techniques or improved
Despite their small sizes, subnanoclusters still contain wet chemistry methods, atomic dispersion of the metal
multiple active centers and are not always the most desir- species on supports had been achieved, as shown in
able active sites for specific catalytic processes. Searching for Figure 2.
catalysts with well-defined single active centers is necessary The mass-selected soft-landing technique is powerful in
for improving the performance and understanding catalytic preparing supported metal clusters or even SACs, because of
mechanisms.17 Accordingly, the most effective way to make its exact control of the size of metal species by using mass-
use of each and every metal atom of supported metal selected molecular or atom beams and precise regulation of
catalysts is to downsize the metal nanostructures to well- the surface structure of the support by combining these with
defined, atomically distributed metal active centers, that is, ultrahigh vacuum surface science procedures.12,16,22 This
single-atom catalysts (SACs), which is the ultimate goal of technique provides excellent model catalysts for fundamen-
fine dispersion.18
21 We have for the first time prepared a tal studies, on the atomic level, of metal
support interac-
practical Pt single atom catalyst supported on iron oxide, tions and cluster size effects. A number of experimental and
which we named as Pt1/FeOx.18 The excellent performance theoretical studies based on the soft-landing method have
of the above catalyst demonstrates that heterogeneous addressed the catalytic properties of metal species on
catalysis with SACs is no longer a dream. supports.5,12,13,16,22 However, such an expensive and low-
As shown in Figure 1, there are different types of SACs yield fabrication method limits its wide application and is
according to the chemical interactions between the mono- clearly not suitable for practical industrial applications of
nuclear metal atom and supports, including single metal heterogeneous catalysis. Other alternatives for preparing
atoms anchored to metal oxides, metal surfaces, graphene, SACs are urgently needed.

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Single-Atom Catalysts Yang et al.

FIGURE 2. Methods for preparing SACs: mass-selected soft-landing (A) and wet chemistry (B).

In the wet-chemistry approach, because the precursor

materials already contain single-atom metal species, the
objective is to anchor metal species on the supports through
a chemical reaction and to avoid their aggregation during
the post-treatment processes. Experimentally, anchoring
mononuclear organometallic complexes on supports can
be achieved by utilization of the coordination between the
ligands of the complex and the surface groups of the support
materials.17,23,25,26 In many heterogeneously catalytic pro-
cesses, more accessible metal active sites are needed for
activation of reactants, which requires pretreatment of cat-
alyst to remove useless or even poisonous ligands. As a FIGURE 3. Specific activity as a function of metal loadings/sizes.
result, it runs the risk for the single-atom metal species to Data points from ref 26.
aggregate to larger particles.25 Therefore a strong metal

support interaction is the key to prevent aggregation of characterizations about structures of SACs start to become
single atoms on the surface. In this case, the anchoring sites accessible. For example, the detailed surface structure of Pt1/
with surface species of the support as ligands, such as surface FeOx regarding the single-atom species on supports is ob-
uncapped sites or other aggregation inhibitors on supports tained by the combination of a variety of spectral experi-
like alkali-ion contaminants or residual organic ligands ments and density functional theory (DFT) modeling.18
during chemical preparations, will play an essential role in Similarly, Kwak et al. have reported that coordinatively
stabilizing single-atom metal species.18,24,25,38,39 Inasmuch unsaturated pentacoordinate Al3þ centers of γ-Al2O3 sup-
as the anchoring sites on the support are not always abun- ports serve as the anchoring sites for platinum atoms by
dant, low loadings of metal with high-surface-area supports combinations of Al-NMR, AC-STEM, and computational
are generally required to achieve SACs.18,24,26,31 methods.29 It should be pointed out that the employment
2.2. Characterizations of SACs. The characterization of of in situ characterization techniques under pretreatment or
practical single-atom species is another important factor that reaction conditions, although with a reduced resolution, allows
hinders the development of SACs. Recent advances in atom- for a better structure
performance correlation.34
ic resolution characterization techniques, such as subang- 2.3. Catalytic Performance of SACs. SACs aim at improv-
strom-resolution aberration-corrected scanning transmission ing the utilization of metal active components. Experiments
electron microscopy (AC-STEM), can precisely locate the in- show that they can promote catalytic performance in a
dividual metal atoms in such SACs thus providing direct variety of heterogeneous reactions.18,22,24,26,30,31,38
42 An
local structural information about the metal species on effective evaluation of the catalytic activity of SACs is to
supports.18,23,24,27,28,35 In addition, with the combination of scale with the specific activity per atom. Figure 3 shows
state-of-the-art experimental techniques such as X-ray ab- schematically the change of activity with metal loadings
sorption spectroscopy and advanced modeling and simulat- or sizes. When single atoms serve as the catalytically
ion methods in computational chemistry, more in-depth active sites, the activity will increase with reduced particle

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 Single-Atom Catalysts Yang et al.

sizes or loadings and arrive at a constant value until

atomic dispersion is reached.26 We will summarize here
several key SAC systems.
(a) Oxidation. SACs have shown great potential in a
variety of oxidation reactions, including CO oxidation or
preferential oxidation (PROX),18 aerobic oxidation of alcohols,24
formaldehyde oxidation,39,41 and methane oxidation,43 among
others. For both CO oxidation and PROX, experimental results
indicate that Pt1/FeOx is 2
3 times more active than the
subnanometer-sized counterpart and is stable during a long-
term test.18 Similarly, Metiu and co-workers reported that the
catalysts containing more isolated ionic Pt atoms are more FIGURE 4. Schematic illustrate the changes of surface free energy
active for methane oxidation.43 Lee et al. observed a decrease and specific activity per metal atom with metal particle size and the
of activity with an increase of the metal particle size and that support effects on stabilizing single atoms.

single-atom catalysts were most active in the alcohol oxida-

Sun and co-workers synthesized isolated Pt atoms achored to
tion with Pd/meso-Al2O3 catalysts.24 (b) Water
gas shift
graphene using the ALD technique. Such Pt SACs exhibited
(WGS). By comparing the catalytic performance of supported
metal nanostructured catalysts with or without leaching of its significantly improved catalytic activity in methanol electro-
metallic components, Flytzani-Stephanopoulos and co-work- oxidation reactions.36
ers found that the leached catalysts exhibited comparable or
3. Understanding the SACs
even higher activities than the parent catalysts, indicating that
metallic components do not participate in the reactions and As illustrated in Figure 4, the bulk materials can be turned
metal cations conjugated with support are responsible for into nanoparticles, subnanoclusters, and finally single metal
their activity. Meanwhile, such ionic metal species show atoms. The size reduction generates an increase of unsatu-
similar TOF values irrespective of their loadings and do not rated coordination environment of the metal species. Ac-
seem to migrate to form metal particles even after long-time cordingly, the surface free energy of the metal components
reactions.30,31 In terms of its atomic active sites, we consider it increases, and the metal sites become more and more active
another example of a SAC in practical catalytic processes. (c) for chemical interactions with the support and adsorbates,
Hydrogenation. Xu et al. investigated Au/ZrO2 catalysts with which accounts for the size effects of metal nanocatalysts.
various loadings of Au for the selective hydrogenation of 1,3- In the extreme case of SACs, because of the highly active
butadiene, observed a trend that can be well fitted with the valence electrons, the quantum confinement of electrons,
curve in Figure 3, and thus proposed that isolated surface-type and the sparse quantum level of metal atoms, the surface
Au3þ ions serve as the active sites.26 This is also an example of free energy of metal species reaches a maximum, which
a SAC that shows better catalytic performance than the then leads to promoted chemical interactions with the
nanostructures. support and unique chemical properties of SACs.
2.4. SACs over Other Supports. Most of the SACs we 3.1. Location and Geometric Effects of Single Atoms on
reviewed so far are composed of metal single atoms anchored Supports. The locations of metal single atoms are correlated
on oxide surfaces. The metal active sites can also be supported with the anchor sites of the support, for instance, through the
on metals, graphene, or other materials, forming unique architectural structure of metal
oxygen
cation
(support) or
ensembles that exhibit excellent performance.32,36,44
46 For even occupying the position for the cations in the cases of oxide
example, Toshima et al. prepared crown-jewel-structured supports.18,24,27,47 For example, our previous subangstrom-
Au/Pd nanocatalysts by a galvanic replacement reaction meth- resolution HAADF image of Pt1/FeOx reveals that individual Pt
od, where gold atoms were atomically dispersed on Pd clusters. atoms (indicated by the white circles in Figure 5a) locate exactly
This single-atom gold species showed unprecedentedly high at the positions of the Fe atoms. Further DFT calculations
activity in glucose oxidation.32 Kyriakou et al. reported that (Figure 5b) confirm that the most probable sites for single Pt
individual, isolated Pd atoms dispersed onto Cu surfaces atoms are the 3-fold hollow sites on the O3-terminated surface,
dissociated hydrogen and facilitated the spillover of H, result- where each Pt atom is coordinated by three surface oxygen
ing in selective hydrogenation of styrene and acetylene.44 atoms and can be viewed as the surface Fe atoms being

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Single-Atom Catalysts Yang et al.

FIGURE 5. (a) HAADF-STEM image and (b) density functional modeling of Pt1/FeOx.18

replaced by single Pt atoms.18 An intensive investigation of the nanostructured catalysts will be inhibited accordingly, and
model catalyst of Au adatoms on the (111) surface of single- a modified or different catalytic mechanism might take
crystal magnetite has also indicated that Au single atoms are place. For example, contiguously located Pd sites function
attached atop an uncapped O atom in the position that would as the active sites for the elementary step of N2O decom-
be occupied by Fe tetrahedral ions in a bulk iron oxide crystal.47 position, while the rate-determining step was found to
For single-atom metals supported on γ-Al2O3, the atomically have been changed by forming Pd single-atoms on a Au
dispersed metal species on supports are found to be on surface.51 Similarly, a double-site activation of acetylene
the defects of the support with metal
O
Al bonding and ethylene was found on gold nanoclusters, while they
contributions.24,27,29,48 Correspondingly, for a hollandite-type exhibit single-site π-bonding with single-atom gold
manganese oxide support with its tunnels composed of oxygen species.52 These findings reveal vast opportunities in
with lone-pair dangling electrons and a proper diameter for tuning the catalytic performance by the geometric effects
Ag
O
Mn bonding, single-atom Ag chains can be formed of SACs.
in the tunnels.41 For SACs with metals as support, the location 3.2. Electronic Effects. The special locations and chemical
of single atoms depends on the chemical potential of the bonding on supports also lead to unique electronic proper-
constituent metals. For example, because of the higher chemical ties of metal single atoms different from those of metal
potential of gold than palladium, gold atoms prefer to stay nanocatalysts. Their electronic structures are much more
on the corner sites of Pd clusters.32 For SACs with graphene as volatile according to their coordinated environments. In fact,
support, the single atoms were located on the defects with the coordination to the surface atoms of the support is so
carbon vacancies serving as anchoring sites.36,49,50 critical that it is not quite suitable to discuss an isolated single
A straightforward geometric effect of such locations of metal atom without the support. The bonding of metal
single atoms is that SACs make full use of all active metal atoms with the uncapped sites on the supports leads to
atoms. This is the primary motivation for downsizing metal charge transfer between metal atoms and the support due
nanostructures to single atoms, especially for the noble to different chemical potentials. As a result, the anchored
metals. Another geometric effect of the SAC is its homoge- metal atoms usually carry some charge, which was verified
nized active site for catalytic reactions. For the practically by various spectral measurements and computational
prepared catalysts of metal nanostructures, the broad size modeling.18,24,26,30,47,48,53
55 For Pt1/FeOx catalysts, the
distribution and irregular morphology of metal particles white line intensity in the X-ray absorption spectra reflects
generally leads to a wide variety of metal active sites. In the increased oxidation state of Pt atoms, consistent with the
contrast, the SAC has a substantial merit of structural simpli- blue shift of the vibrational frequency of CO on Ptδþ
city compared with the heterogeneity of nanostructured (Figure 6). The calculated Bader charges show that Pt single
catalysts. The single-atom active sites are all well-defined atoms are positively charged when anchored on FeOx.18 On
and atomically distributed on the supports, resulting in the other hand, the conjunction of metal atom with the
an identical geometric structure of each active center, surface groups of supports also leads to the bonding or
analogous to that of a homogeneous catalyst. Meanwhile, coupling of quantum levels of single metal atoms with
since only single-atom metal active sites are available surface species.46 In our previous study of Pt1/FeOx catalyst,
in SACs, the catalytic pathway involving multiatoms of it was found that the discrete 5d-orbitals of Pt single-atom

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 Single-Atom Catalysts Yang et al.

FIGURE 6. (a) Density of states of the Pt-5d and O-2p bands of Pt1/FeOx catalyst. (b) The blue shift of the CO vibration frequency on Pt single atom
compared with the Pt clusters on hematite.18

are mixed considerably with the oxygen-2p band and 4. The Correlations between the Properties
evolved to d-band (Figure 6). and Reactivities of SACs
Similarly, the electronic properties of single atoms on Attributed to their unique properties, SACs serve as a new
metal or graphene are also modified through the electron type of catalyst with great potential applications. Establish-
donation between single-atom centers and the supports. ment of the structure
performance relationship of the SACs
For example, the more electropositive element Pd on a in different reactions will provide guidance to the design of
Au
Pd surface will have more d-vacancies, and the Pt more efficient SACs for different targeted reactions. (a)
single atoms on graphene contain high unoccupied 5d Activity. As seen in Figure 7, the superior performance of
densities of states, akin to the metal atoms anchored on Pt1/FeOx originates from the following aspects: (i) the activa-
oxide surfaces.32,36 tion of O2 is improved because of the promotion of oxygen-
3.3. Activation of Supports. Strong interaction between vacancy formation; (ii) the chance of poisoning by CO
metal atoms and the support will unavoidably affect the adsorption is reduced due to the Ptδþ active center on the
supports. Generally, different single metal atoms on the support. As a result, all the elementary steps in the catalytic
support potentially modify the properties of support cycle are exothermic, and the barriers are low enough for CO
differently.11,18,27 For example, stabilization of the support oxidation.18 Such promotional effects of vacancy creation
to prevent degradation of the catalysts can be achieved by on the activity as well as its superior CO tolerance was also
isolated La atoms on the surface of γ-Al2O3, because the observed in other oxidation reactions.36,43,53
55 Besides,
strong binding and mutual repulsion of La atoms pin the the modified electronic properties of metal single active sites
surface and inhibit both sintering and the transformation of are suggested to be the origin of high activity of SACs in
supports.27 For noble metals on reducible supports (Pt/FeOx, some other catalytic processes.26,30 (b) Selectivity. SACs also
Ir/CeO2, etc.), metal single atoms or small subnanoclusters improve selectivity in various reactions because of their
are found to facilitate the reduction of supports.11,18 Subse- well-defined, single site features. In the hydrogenation of
quently, this type of SAC exhibits an excellent ability to styrene or acetylene, the Pd single atoms on a Cu surface
activate the lattice oxygen on the support surface.18,43,53
55 serve as the active sites to activate hydrogen for hydrogena-
Our previous DFT calculations indicated that the formation tion meanwhile avoiding the decomposition of reactants
of oxygen vacancies on the hematite with the presence of occurring on multimetal active sites, which then leads to a
single-Pt atoms is more thermodynamically favored than on high hydrogenation selectivity.44 In the selective hydroge-
the pure supports because of the promotion effect of Pt nation of unsaturated aldehydes, the hydrogenation reac-
single atoms.18 Such a promotional effect on the creation of tion follows an Eley
Rideal mechanism on single gold
vacancies on the support surface adjacent to the metal atoms on a ZrO2 support because only single-atom sites
single atoms was also suggested by Metiu and co-workers are available for intermediate adsorption. Therefore, a high
and has been intensively studied in various single-atom- selectivity toward allyl-alcohol with lower deep hydrogen-
based catalysts.43,53,54 ation products was achieved.56 (c) Stability. Because of the

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Single-Atom Catalysts Yang et al.

FIGURE 7. The proposed reaction pathways and energy profile (in eV) for CO oxidation on the single-atom catalyst Pt1/FeOx.18

chemical-bonding trait of metal single atoms on the supports, than their nanostructured counterparts with satisfying stabi-
SACs also present satisfactory stability under many chemical lity in various reactions. Furthermore, SACs can act as ideal
processes. As shown in the Pt1/FeOx catalyst, Pt single atoms are and simplified model systems to make a direct comparison of
located on hematite with Pt
O
Fe architectures, which explain experimental results with theoretical calculations. Inasmuch
its catalytic stability in CO oxidation reactions.18 Such metal
as supports act in a similar way as ligands for the metal active
oxygen
support structures are also suggested to be the origin of sites, SACs also serve as a bridge to connect the hetero- and
the stability of SACs in various catalytic processes.30,33,47 In homogeneous catalysis.
addition, the property of charged single atoms on supports also Single atoms anchored on appropriate supports might
contributes to its stability. For example, the cationic species have existed for a long time and played significant roles in
coordinated with supports could not be removed whereas many catalytic processes, but they have rarely been recog-
metallic species were leached by CN
.26,30,31 nized as active sites. With the emergence of new character-
ization and computational modeling techniques, single-
5. Conclusions and Prospects atom active sites become accessible. The development of
Size does matter in heterogeneous catalysis by supported Pt1/FeOx has exclusively proven that supported single
metal nanostructures. As the size of metal nanostructures atoms can be excellent heterogeneous catalysts.
is decreased from nanometer to subnanometer scale and It should be pointed out that SACs must not be considered
ultimately to single atoms, the catalytic performance may to be superior to the conventional nanostructured catalysts
change significantly due to the low-coordination envi- in every circumstance; the single-site feature likely limits its
ronment, quantum size effect, and improved metal
support application in catalytic processes requiring multimetal active
interactions. In particular, SACs with well-defined and atom- sites. However, utilization of the novel properties derived
ically dispersed metal sites on supports can maximize the from SACs seems to provide vast opportunities for applica-
efficiency of metal utilization. Although SACs for a long time tions in heterogeneous catalysis. With the establishment of
seemed an unrealistic dream in supported metal catalysts, SACs as a new concept and a thorough elucidation of the
recent experimental and theoretical studies, especially our nature of single-atom catalysis, we believe that develop-
recent work on Pt1/FeOx, have provided unambiguous evi- ment and understanding of SACs might be a new frontier in
dence that SACs can have higher activity, selectivity, or both heterogeneous catalysis. The current findings about SACs

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 Single-Atom Catalysts Yang et al.

are only an iceberg in catalysis science, and an even more joined DICP again in 1990 where he was promoted to a full
exciting world of single-atom catalysis is yet to come. professor in 1995. He is currently the director of DICP. He also
serves as the Associate Editor-in-Chief of Chinese Journal of
Catalysis, an Editorial Board Member of Applied Catalysis B, an
This work is supported by the NKBRSF (Grant 2011CB932400) Advisory Board Member of ChemPhysChem, and a Fellow of the
and the NSFC of China (Grants 21203182 and 21277140). Royal Society of Chemistry (UK). He has published more than 260
Jingyue Liu is supported by the startup fund from ASU. peer-reviewed papers. His research interests are focused on design
and synthesis of supported metal catalysts, the catalytic conver-
sion of biomass, and environmental catalysis.
BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION
Xiao-Feng Yang received his Ph.D. degree in 2010 from DICP FOOTNOTES
under the supervision of Prof. Tao Zhang. After 2 years as a *Corresponding authors. E-mail addresses: [email protected], [email protected],
postdoctoral fellow in Prof. Jun Li's group at Tsinghua University [email protected].
The authors declare no competing financial interest.
for theoretical and computational catalysis, he went back to join
Prof. Tao Zhang's group. His current research interests involve
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