IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v13y2022i1d10.1038_s41467-022-30766-x.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Boosting the performance of single-atom catalysts via external electric field polarization

Author

Listed:
  • Yanghang Pan

    (Nanjing University)

  • Xinzhu Wang

    (Nanjing University
    Nanjing University)

  • Weiyang Zhang

    (Nanjing University)

  • Lingyu Tang

    (Nanjing University)

  • Zhangyan Mu

    (Nanjing University)

  • Cheng Liu

    (Nanjing University)

  • Bailin Tian

    (Nanjing University)

  • Muchun Fei

    (Nanjing University)

  • Yamei Sun

    (Nanjing University)

  • Huanhuan Su

    (Nanjing University)

  • Libo Gao

    (Nanjing University)

  • Peng Wang

    (Nanjing University
    University of Warwick)

  • Xiangfeng Duan

    (University of California)

  • Jing Ma

    (Nanjing University
    Nanjing University)

  • Mengning Ding

    (Nanjing University)

Abstract

Single-atom catalysts represent a unique catalytic system with high atomic utilization and tunable reaction pathway. Despite current successes in their optimization and tailoring through structural and synthetic innovations, there is a lack of dynamic modulation approach for the single-atom catalysis. Inspired by the electrostatic interaction within specific natural enzymes, here we show the performance of model single-atom catalysts anchored on two-dimensional atomic crystals can be systematically and efficiently tuned by oriented external electric fields. Superior electrocatalytic performance have been achieved in single-atom catalysts under electrostatic modulations. Theoretical investigations suggest a universal “onsite electrostatic polarization” mechanism, in which electrostatic fields significantly polarize charge distributions at the single-atom sites and alter the kinetics of the rate determining steps, leading to boosted reaction performances. Such field-induced on-site polarization offers a unique strategy for simulating the catalytic processes in natural enzyme systems with quantitative, precise and dynamic external electric fields.

Suggested Citation

  • Yanghang Pan & Xinzhu Wang & Weiyang Zhang & Lingyu Tang & Zhangyan Mu & Cheng Liu & Bailin Tian & Muchun Fei & Yamei Sun & Huanhuan Su & Libo Gao & Peng Wang & Xiangfeng Duan & Jing Ma & Mengning Din, 2022. "Boosting the performance of single-atom catalysts via external electric field polarization," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-12, December.
  • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:13:y:2022:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-022-30766-x
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-30766-x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-30766-x
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41467-022-30766-x?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Doeke R. Hekstra & K. Ian White & Michael A. Socolich & Robert W. Henning & Vukica Šrajer & Rama Ranganathan, 2016. "Electric-field-stimulated protein mechanics," Nature, Nature, vol. 540(7633), pages 400-405, December.
    2. Charlie Tsai & Hong Li & Sangwook Park & Joonsuk Park & Hyun Soo Han & Jens K. Nørskov & Xiaolin Zheng & Frank Abild-Pedersen, 2017. "Electrochemical generation of sulfur vacancies in the basal plane of MoS2 for hydrogen evolution," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 8(1), pages 1-8, April.
    3. Panlong Zhai & Mingyue Xia & Yunzhen Wu & Guanghui Zhang & Junfeng Gao & Bo Zhang & Shuyan Cao & Yanting Zhang & Zhuwei Li & Zhaozhong Fan & Chen Wang & Xiaomeng Zhang & Jeffrey T. Miller & Licheng Su, 2021. "Engineering single-atomic ruthenium catalytic sites on defective nickel-iron layered double hydroxide for overall water splitting," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 12(1), pages 1-11, December.
    4. Niancai Cheng & Samantha Stambula & Da Wang & Mohammad Norouzi Banis & Jian Liu & Adam Riese & Biwei Xiao & Ruying Li & Tsun-Kong Sham & Li-Min Liu & Gianluigi A. Botton & Xueliang Sun, 2016. "Platinum single-atom and cluster catalysis of the hydrogen evolution reaction," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 7(1), pages 1-9, December.
    5. Huilong Fei & Juncai Dong & M. Josefina Arellano-Jiménez & Gonglan Ye & Nam Dong Kim & Errol L.G. Samuel & Zhiwei Peng & Zhuan Zhu & Fan Qin & Jiming Bao & Miguel Jose Yacaman & Pulickel M. Ajayan & D, 2015. "Atomic cobalt on nitrogen-doped graphene for hydrogen generation," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 6(1), pages 1-8, December.
    6. Xiao Huang & Zhiyuan Zeng & Shuyu Bao & Mengfei Wang & Xiaoying Qi & Zhanxi Fan & Hua Zhang, 2013. "Solution-phase epitaxial growth of noble metal nanostructures on dispersible single-layer molybdenum disulfide nanosheets," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 4(1), pages 1-8, June.
    7. Yuan Liu & Jian Guo & Enbo Zhu & Lei Liao & Sung-Joon Lee & Mengning Ding & Imran Shakir & Vincent Gambin & Yu Huang & Xiangfeng Duan, 2018. "Approaching the Schottky–Mott limit in van der Waals metal–semiconductor junctions," Nature, Nature, vol. 557(7707), pages 696-700, May.
    8. Jitendra N. Tiwari & Siraj Sultan & Chang Woo Myung & Taeseung Yoon & Nannan Li & Miran Ha & Ahmad M. Harzandi & Hyo Ju Park & Dong Yeon Kim & S. Selva Chandrasekaran & Wang Geun Lee & Varun Vij & Hoj, 2018. "Multicomponent electrocatalyst with ultralow Pt loading and high hydrogen evolution activity," Nature Energy, Nature, vol. 3(9), pages 773-782, September.
    9. Yi Shi & Zhi-Rui Ma & Yi-Ying Xiao & Yun-Chao Yin & Wen-Mao Huang & Zhi-Chao Huang & Yun-Zhe Zheng & Fang-Ya Mu & Rong Huang & Guo-Yue Shi & Yi-Yang Sun & Xing-Hua Xia & Wei Chen, 2021. "Electronic metal–support interaction modulates single-atom platinum catalysis for hydrogen evolution reaction," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 12(1), pages 1-11, December.
    10. Albert C. Aragonès & Naomi L. Haworth & Nadim Darwish & Simone Ciampi & Evelyn Jane Mannix & Gordon G. Wallace & Ismael Diez-Perez & Michelle L. Coote, 2016. "Electrostatic catalysis of a Diels–Alder reaction," Nature, Nature, vol. 531(7592), pages 88-91, March.
    11. Daobin Liu & Xiyu Li & Shuangming Chen & Huan Yan & Changda Wang & Chuanqiang Wu & Yasir A. Haleem & Sai Duan & Junling Lu & Binghui Ge & Pulickel M. Ajayan & Yi Luo & Jun Jiang & Li Song, 2019. "Atomically dispersed platinum supported on curved carbon supports for efficient electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution," Nature Energy, Nature, vol. 4(6), pages 512-518, June.
    12. Shi Fang & Xiaorong Zhu & Xiaokang Liu & Jian Gu & Wei Liu & Danhao Wang & Wei Zhang & Yue Lin & Junling Lu & Shiqiang Wei & Yafei Li & Tao Yao, 2020. "Uncovering near-free platinum single-atom dynamics during electrochemical hydrogen evolution reaction," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 11(1), pages 1-8, December.
    13. Mengning Ding & Qiyuan He & Gongming Wang & Hung-Chieh Cheng & Yu Huang & Xiangfeng Duan, 2015. "An on-chip electrical transport spectroscopy approach for in situ monitoring electrochemical interfaces," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 6(1), pages 1-9, November.
    14. Jolien Dendooven & Ranjith K. Ramachandran & Eduardo Solano & Mert Kurttepeli & Lisa Geerts & Gino Heremans & Jan Rongé & Matthias M. Minjauw & Thomas Dobbelaere & Kilian Devloo-Casier & Johan A. Mart, 2017. "Independent tuning of size and coverage of supported Pt nanoparticles using atomic layer deposition," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 8(1), pages 1-12, December.
    15. Brian Pattengale & Yichao Huang & Xingxu Yan & Sizhuo Yang & Sabrina Younan & Wenhui Hu & Zhida Li & Sungsik Lee & Xiaoqing Pan & Jing Gu & Jier Huang, 2020. "Dynamic evolution and reversibility of single-atom Ni(II) active site in 1T-MoS2 electrocatalysts for hydrogen evolution," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 11(1), pages 1-9, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Bingqing Wang & Meng Wang & Ziting Fan & Chao Ma & Shibo Xi & Lo‐Yueh Chang & Mingsheng Zhang & Ning Ling & Ziyu Mi & Shenghua Chen & Wan Ru Leow & Jia Zhang & Dingsheng Wang & Yanwei Lum, 2024. "Nanocurvature-induced field effects enable control over the activity of single-atom electrocatalysts," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-12, December.
    2. Jie Xu & Xiong-Xiong Xue & Gonglei Shao & Changfei Jing & Sheng Dai & Kun He & Peipei Jia & Shun Wang & Yifei Yuan & Jun Luo & Jun Lu, 2023. "Atomic-level polarization in electric fields of defects for electrocatalysis," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-9, December.
    3. Hang Xia & Xiaoru Sang & Zhiwen Shu & Zude Shi & Zefen Li & Shasha Guo & Xiuyun An & Caitian Gao & Fucai Liu & Huigao Duan & Zheng Liu & Yongmin He, 2023. "The practice of reaction window in an electrocatalytic on-chip microcell," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-10, December.
    4. Jiachen Li & Yuqiang Ma & Cong Zhang & Chi Zhang & Huijun Ma & Zhaoqi Guo & Ning Liu & Ming Xu & Haixia Ma & Jieshan Qiu, 2023. "Green electrosynthesis of 3,3’-diamino-4,4’-azofurazan energetic materials coupled with energy-efficient hydrogen production over Pt-based catalysts," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-15, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Zhenglong Fan & Fan Liao & Yujin Ji & Yang Liu & Hui Huang & Dan Wang & Kui Yin & Haiwei Yang & Mengjie Ma & Wenxiang Zhu & Meng Wang & Zhenhui Kang & Youyong Li & Mingwang Shao & Zhiwei Hu & Qi Shao, 2022. "Coupling of nanocrystal hexagonal array and two-dimensional metastable substrate boosts H2-production," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-10, December.
    2. Huaning Jiang & Weiwei Yang & Mingquan Xu & Erqing Wang & Yi Wei & Wei Liu & Xiaokang Gu & Lixuan Liu & Qian Chen & Pengbo Zhai & Xiaolong Zou & Pulickel M. Ajayan & Wu Zhou & Yongji Gong, 2022. "Single atom catalysts in Van der Waals gaps," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-9, December.
    3. Hao Shi & Tanyuan Wang & Jianyun Liu & Weiwei Chen & Shenzhou Li & Jiashun Liang & Shuxia Liu & Xuan Liu & Zhao Cai & Chao Wang & Dong Su & Yunhui Huang & Lior Elbaz & Qing Li, 2023. "A sodium-ion-conducted asymmetric electrolyzer to lower the operation voltage for direct seawater electrolysis," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-11, December.
    4. Xiaowei Shi & Chao Dai & Xin Wang & Jiayue Hu & Junying Zhang & Lingxia Zheng & Liang Mao & Huajun Zheng & Mingshan Zhu, 2022. "Protruding Pt single-sites on hexagonal ZnIn2S4 to accelerate photocatalytic hydrogen evolution," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-10, December.
    5. Tianyu Zhang & Jing Jin & Junmei Chen & Yingyan Fang & Xu Han & Jiayi Chen & Yaping Li & Yu Wang & Junfeng Liu & Lei Wang, 2022. "Pinpointing the axial ligand effect on platinum single-atom-catalyst towards efficient alkaline hydrogen evolution reaction," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-14, December.
    6. Junsic Cho & Taejung Lim & Haesol Kim & Ling Meng & Jinjong Kim & Seunghoon Lee & Jong Hoon Lee & Gwan Yeong Jung & Kug-Seung Lee & Francesc Viñes & Francesc Illas & Kai S. Exner & Sang Hoon Joo & Cha, 2023. "Importance of broken geometric symmetry of single-atom Pt sites for efficient electrocatalysis," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-10, December.
    7. Ruiling Zhang & Yaozhou Li & Xuan Zhou & Ao Yu & Qi Huang & Tingting Xu & Longtao Zhu & Ping Peng & Shuyan Song & Luis Echegoyen & Fang-Fang Li, 2023. "Single-atomic platinum on fullerene C60 surfaces for accelerated alkaline hydrogen evolution," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-12, December.
    8. Yuannan Wang & Mingcheng Zhang & Zhenye Kang & Lei Shi & Yucheng Shen & Boyuan Tian & Yongcun Zou & Hui Chen & Xiaoxin Zou, 2023. "Nano-metal diborides-supported anode catalyst with strongly coupled TaOx/IrO2 catalytic layer for low-iridium-loading proton exchange membrane electrolyzer," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-12, December.
    9. Mingru Bai & Ting Wang & Zhenyu Xing & Haoju Huang & Xizheng Wu & Mohsen Adeli & Mao Wang & Xianglong Han & Ling Ye & Chong Cheng, 2024. "Electron-donable heterojunctions with synergetic Ru-Cu pair sites for biocatalytic microenvironment modulations in inflammatory mandible defects," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-22, December.
    10. Pengcheng Ye & Keqing Fang & Haiyan Wang & Yahao Wang & Hao Huang & Chenbin Mo & Jiqiang Ning & Yong Hu, 2024. "Lattice oxygen activation and local electric field enhancement by co-doping Fe and F in CoO nanoneedle arrays for industrial electrocatalytic water oxidation," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-12, December.
    11. Jie Dai & Yinlong Zhu & Yu Chen & Xue Wen & Mingce Long & Xinhao Wu & Zhiwei Hu & Daqin Guan & Xixi Wang & Chuan Zhou & Qian Lin & Yifei Sun & Shih-Chang Weng & Huanting Wang & Wei Zhou & Zongping Sha, 2022. "Hydrogen spillover in complex oxide multifunctional sites improves acidic hydrogen evolution electrocatalysis," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-10, December.
    12. Hang Xia & Xiaoru Sang & Zhiwen Shu & Zude Shi & Zefen Li & Shasha Guo & Xiuyun An & Caitian Gao & Fucai Liu & Huigao Duan & Zheng Liu & Yongmin He, 2023. "The practice of reaction window in an electrocatalytic on-chip microcell," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-10, December.
    13. Yufei Zhao & Priyank V. Kumar & Xin Tan & Xinxin Lu & Xiaofeng Zhu & Junjie Jiang & Jian Pan & Shibo Xi & Hui Ying Yang & Zhipeng Ma & Tao Wan & Dewei Chu & Wenjie Jiang & Sean C. Smith & Rose Amal & , 2022. "Modulating Pt-O-Pt atomic clusters with isolated cobalt atoms for enhanced hydrogen evolution catalysis," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-11, December.
    14. Geng Wu & Xiao Han & Jinyan Cai & Peiqun Yin & Peixin Cui & Xusheng Zheng & Hai Li & Cai Chen & Gongming Wang & Xun Hong, 2022. "In-plane strain engineering in ultrathin noble metal nanosheets boosts the intrinsic electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution activity," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-9, December.
    15. Kamran Dastafkan & Xiangjian Shen & Rosalie K. Hocking & Quentin Meyer & Chuan Zhao, 2023. "Monometallic interphasic synergy via nano-hetero-interfacing for hydrogen evolution in alkaline electrolytes," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-10, December.
    16. Yurui Fan & Haomiao Xu & Guanqun Gao & Mingming Wang & Wenjun Huang & Lei Ma & Yancai Yao & Zan Qu & Pengfei Xie & Bin Dai & Naiqiang Yan, 2024. "Asymmetric Ru-In atomic pairs promote highly active and stable acetylene hydrochlorination," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-12, December.
    17. Panlong Zhai & Chen Wang & Yuanyuan Zhao & Yanxue Zhang & Junfeng Gao & Licheng Sun & Jungang Hou, 2023. "Regulating electronic states of nitride/hydroxide to accelerate kinetics for oxygen evolution at large current density," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-11, December.
    18. Yong Zuo & Sebastiano Bellani & Michele Ferri & Gabriele Saleh & Dipak V. Shinde & Marilena Isabella Zappia & Rosaria Brescia & Mirko Prato & Luca Trizio & Ivan Infante & Francesco Bonaccorso & Libera, 2023. "High-performance alkaline water electrolyzers based on Ru-perturbed Cu nanoplatelets cathode," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-15, December.
    19. Rachela G. Milazzo & Stefania M. S. Privitera & Silvia Scalese & Salvatore A. Lombardo, 2019. "Effect of Morphology and Mechanical Stability of Nanometric Platinum Layer on Nickel Foam for Hydrogen Evolution Reaction," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(16), pages 1-11, August.
    20. Yaoqiang Zhou & Lei Tong & Zefeng Chen & Li Tao & Yue Pang & Jian-Bin Xu, 2023. "Contact-engineered reconfigurable two-dimensional Schottky junction field-effect transistor with low leakage currents," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-10, December.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:13:y:2022:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-022-30766-x. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.