Electrochemical Knocking-Down of Zn Metal Clusters into Single Atoms
Jianguo Sun, Jing Yang, Tuo Wang, Song Lin Zhang, Hao Yuan, Wenjie Zang, Yu Liu, Ximeng Liu, Wanwan Wang, Shibo Xi, Chin Ho Kirk, Haimei Wang, Junhui Wang, Junhui Wang, Xingyang Wang, Usha Bhat, Zhaolin Liu, Shijie Wang, Yong‐Wei Zhang, John Wang, John Wang
Abstract
Single Atoms Catalysts (SACs) have emerged as a class of highly promising heterogeneous catalysts, where the traditional bottom-up synthesis approaches often encounter considerable challenges in relation to aggregation issues and poor stability. Consequently, achieving densely dispersed atomic species in a reliable and efficient manner remains a key focus in the field. Herein, we report a new facile electrochemical knock-down strategy for the formation of SACs, whereby the metal Zn clusters are transformed into single atoms. While a defect-rich substrate plays a pivotal role in capturing and stabilizing isolated Zn atoms, the feasibility of this novel strategy is demonstrated through a comprehensive investigation, combining experimental and theoretical studies. Furthermore, when studied in exploring for potential applications, the material prepared shows a remarkable improvement of 58.21% for the Li + storage and delivers a capacity over 300 Wh kg –1 after 500 cycles upon the transformation of Zn clusters into single atoms.