Graphdiyne Based Atomic Catalyst: an Emerging Star for Energy Conversion

Atomic catalysts(ACs) consisting of zero-valent metal atoms anchored on supporting materials have shown promising potentials in catalysis and energy conversion due to their higher atomic utilization, higher selectivity, activity and durability toward target reactions. However, traditional single-atom catalysts are mainly composed of clusters of metal atoms, which cannot effectively solve the problems of easy migration and aggregation of metal atoms. Besides, the traditional synthesis methods still lack breakthroughs in improving the stability and accurately controlling the chemical structure and charge distribution of metal atoms, which seriously limits the understanding of structure-activity relationship and catalytic mechanism in the catalytic reaction process at the atomic level. Graphdiyne(GDY) based ACs are stabilized by incomplete charge transfer between metal atoms and supporting materials, resolving the easy migration and aggregation of traditional single atomic catalysts, which have been regarded as the next generation of catalysts. This review will start with the overview of the synthesis methods for precisely anchoring of different zero-valent transition metal atoms(e.g., Ni, Fe, Mo and Cu) and noble metal atoms(e.g., Pd and Ru), followed by focusing on the recent advances in the researches of the ACs toward a series of important reactions for energy conversion technologies, including the electrochemical water splitting(EWS), nitrogen reduction reaction(NRR), oxygen reduction reaction(ORR) and others. Finally, the review concludes with a perspective highlighting the promises and challenges in the further development of ACs.