Regulations of active moiety in single atom catalysts for electrochemical hydrogen evolution reaction

Hydrogen production from water splitting using renewable electric energy is an interesting topic towards the carbon neutral future. Single atom catalysts (SACs) have emerged as a new frontier in the field of catalysis such as hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), owing to their intriguing properties like high activity and excellent chemical selectivity. The catalytic active moiety is often comprised of a single metal atom and its neighboring environment from the supports. Recent published reviews about electric-driven HER tend to classify these SACs by the species of active center atom, nevertheless the influence of their neighboring coordinated atoms from the supports is somehow neglected. Thus we classify the SACs for HER through the type of supports, highlighting the electronic metal–support interaction and their coordination environment from support. Then, we put forward some structural designing strategies including regulating of the central atoms, coordination environments, and metal–support interactions. Finally, the current challenges and future research perspectives of SACs for HER are briefly proposed.