Single atom catalysis—Back to the future

Atom utilization efficiency, element abundance and cost, geometrically and electronically well-defined sites, electron and orbital accessibility, support effects, stability; these are all hallmarks of the single atom catalysis revolution of the past decade. Professor Geoffrey Ozin, an early practitioner of single metal atom chemistry and catalysis, asks: where did the science begin? Atom utilization efficiency, element abundance and cost, geometrically and electronically well-defined sites, electron and orbital accessibility, support effects, stability; these are all hallmarks of the single atom catalysis revolution of the past decade. Professor Geoffrey Ozin, an early practitioner of single metal atom chemistry and catalysis, asks: where did the science begin?