CAS Key Laboratory of Science and Technology on Applied Catalysis, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 116023, Dalian, China.
University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, 100049, Beijing, China.
School of Science, MOE Key Laboratory for Non-Equilibrium Synthesis and Modulation of Condensed Matter, Xi'an Jiaotong University, 710049, Xi'an, China.
Center for Electron Microscopy and Tianjin Key Lab of Advanced Functional Porous Materials, Institute for New Energy Materials and Low-Carbon Technologies, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tianjin University of Technology, 300384, Tianjin, China.
State Key Laboratory of Catalysis, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 116023, Dalian, China.
CAS Key Laboratory of Science and Technology on Applied Catalysis, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 116023, Dalian, China. bqiao@dicp.ac.cn.
Dalian National Laboratory for Clean Energy, 116023, Dalian, China. bqiao@dicp.ac.cn.
CAS Key Laboratory of Science and Technology on Applied Catalysis, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 116023, Dalian, China. weizhenli@dicp.ac.cn.
CAS Key Laboratory of Science and Technology on Applied Catalysis, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 116023, Dalian, China. taozhang@dicp.ac.cn.
University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, 100049, Beijing, China. taozhang@dicp.ac.cn.
State Key Laboratory of Catalysis, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 116023, Dalian, China. taozhang@dicp.ac.cn.
Single-atom catalysts (SACs) have demonstrated superior catalytic performance in numerous heterogeneous reactions. However, producing thermally stable SACs, especially in a simple and scalable way, remains a formidable challenge. Here, we report the synthesis of Ru SACs from commercial RuO2 powders by physical mixing of sub-micron RuO2 aggregates with a MgAl1.2Fe0.8O4 spinel. Atomically dispersed Ru is confirmed by aberration-corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy and X-ray absorption spectroscopy. Detailed studies reveal that the dispersion process does not arise from a gas atom trapping mechanism, but rather from anti-Ostwald ripening promoted by a strong covalent metal-support interaction. This synthetic strategy is simple and amenable to the large-scale manufacture of thermally stable SACs for industrial applications.
