Journal of Energy Chemistry ›› 2023, Vol. 79 ›› Issue (4): 515-534.DOI: 10.1016/j.jechem.2023.01.021

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Dual metal atom catalysts: Advantages in electrocatalytic reactions

Kaihua Liu*, Jing Li, Yuanyuan Liu, Meiri Wang, Hongtao Cui   

  1. College of Chemistry & Chemical Engineering, Yantai University, Yantai 264005, Shandong, China
  • Received:2022-11-22 Revised:2022-12-25 Accepted:2023-01-12 Online:2023-04-15 Published:2023-05-30
  • Contact: * E-mail address: liukh@ytu.edu.cn (K. Liu).
  • About author:Kaihua Liu got his Ph.D. degree in materials science from Jilin University in 2019. And then he worked as a project hired personnel at Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences. He is currently a lecturer at Yantai University. His research interests focus on the design and synthesis of electro-catalysts for catalytic reactions, such as water splitting and carbon dioxide reduction, etc.
    Jing Li is an assistant research fellow at Yantai Univer-sity. She obtained her Ph.D. degree at Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences (2015). Prior to this appointment, she worked as postdoctoral researcher at Shandong University. She is currently conducting research on the design and application of nanostructured energy materials for Li-S batteries.
    Yuanyuan Liu received her Ph.D. degree from Tianjin University. She is a lecturer at Yantai University. Her research is focused on rational design, synthesis, and fundamental investigation of key materials and com-ponents for electrochemical energy storage and con-version.
    Meiri Wang is a professor at Yantai University. Before that, she was an associate researcher at Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Her current research focuses on the research and develop-ment of key materials and components for high per-formance lithium sulfur batteries.
    Hongtao Cui is a professor at Yantai University. He received Ph.D. degree from Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2002. Then, he worked as a postdoctoral fellow in Instituto de Ciencia de Materiales de Madrid. His research focuses on building ordered nanostructures for application in energy storage devices.

Abstract: The dual-metal-atom catalysts (DACs) have aroused much attention as they possess the advantages of single-atom and metal alloy catalysts. And the DACs have exhibited enhanced performance in various electrocatalytic reactions, such as hydrogen/oxygen evolution and oxygen/carbon dioxide/nitrogen reduction. In this review, we mainly overview the latest understanding of the advantages of DACs for these reactions. This review will start with the familiar characterization methods for DACs, then the pri-mary synthesis strategies for DACs will be discussed. Emphasis is given to the advantages of DACs in cat-alytic reactions, including the adsorption and activation, electronic structure regulation, breaking scaling relations, reducing energy barriers, cascading and coupling, synergy effect, and providing mechanism research platforms. Finally, personal perspectives and challenges for the further development of DACs are briefly discussed.

Key words: Dual atom catalysts, Synergy effect, Scaling relation, Mechanism study platform