Dry-Solid-Electrochemical Synthesis: A General Method for Large Scale Synthesis of Single-Atom Catalysts with High Metal loadings

Xue Gong; Jinpeng Bao; Xian Wang; Xin Wan; Yaheng Gu; Ce Han; Jianglan Shui; Xiaozhi Su; Junjie Ge; Wei Xing; Ping Song; Weilin Xu

doi:10.1002/anie.202419374

Dry-Solid-Electrochemical Synthesis: A General Method for Large Scale Synthesis of Single-Atom Catalysts with High Metal loadings

Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 2025 Jan 16:e202419374. doi: 10.1002/anie.202419374. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Xue Gong¹, Jinpeng Bao¹, Xian Wang¹, Xin Wan², Yaheng Gu¹, Ce Han¹, Jianglan Shui², Xiaozhi Su³, Junjie Ge⁴, Wei Xing⁵, Ping Song¹, Weilin Xu⁶

Affiliations

¹ Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry Chinese Academy of Sciences: Chang Chun Institute of Applied Chemistry Chinese Academy of Sciences, State Key Laboratory of Electroanalytical Chemistry, CHINA.
² Beihang University, Chemistry, CHINA.
³ Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chemistry, CHINA.
⁴ Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry Chinese Academy of Sciences: Chang Chun Institute of Applied Chemistry Chinese Academy of Sciences, State Key Laboratory of Electroanalytical Chemistry, Changchun, CHINA.
⁵ Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry Chinese Academy of Sciences: Chang Chun Institute of Applied Chemistry Chinese Academy of Sciences, State Key Laboratory of Electroanalytical Chemistry, 5625 Renmin Street, 130022, Changchun, CHINA.
⁶ Chang Chun Institute of Applied Chemistry Chinese Academy of Sciences, State Key Laboratory of Electroanalytical Chemistry, 5625 Renmin Street, 130022, Changchun, CHINA.

PMID: 39821926
DOI: 10.1002/anie.202419374

Abstract

Single-atom catalysts (SACs) with high metal loadings are highly desirable but still challenging for large scale synthesis. Here we report a new technique named as dry-solid-electrochemical synthesis (DSES) for a general large-scale synthesis of SACs with high metal loadings in an energy-conservation and environment-friendly way. With it, a series of pure carbon-supported metal SACs (Platinum up to 35.0 wt%, Iridium 21.2 wt%, Ruthenium 20.4 wt% and Iron 17.6 wt%) with high metal loadings were obtained. Particularly, a Pt SAC with Pt 23.9 wt% and remarkable oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) performance in fuel cells is synthesized on kilogram scale. Based on multiple control experiments, a unique redox mechanism for DSES process is proposed: metal precursors on conductive supports are reduced to metals via a homolytic cleavage of metal-halogen bonds by the attacking of electrons flowing through the dry solid phase. Such versatile technique paves a new economical and environment-friendly pathway for fabricating high-metal-loading SACs or atomic dispersion catalysts.

Keywords: Dry-Solid-Electrochemical Synthesis; Fuel cell; single-atom catalysts.