Asymmetric Microenvironment Tailoring Strategies of Atomically Dispersed Dual‐Site Catalysts for Oxygen Reduction and CO2 Reduction Reactions

Abstract

AbstractDual‐atom catalysts (DACs) with atomically dispersed dual‐sites, as an extension of single‐atom catalysts (SACs), have recently become a new hot topic in heterogeneous catalysis due to their maximized atom efficiency and dual‐site diverse synergy, because the synergistic diversity of dual‐sites achieved by asymmetric microenvironment tailoring can efficiently boost the catalytic activity by optimizing the electronic structure of DACs. Here, this work first summarizes the frequently‐used experimental synthesis and characterization methods of DACs. Then, four synergistic catalytic mechanisms (cascade mechanism, assistance mechanism, co‐adsorption mechanism and bifunction mechanism) and four key modulating methods (active site asymmetric strategy, transverse/axial‐modification engineering, distance engineering and strain engineering) are elaborated comprehensively. The emphasis is placed on the effects of asymmetric microenvironment of DACs on oxygen/carbon dioxide reduction reaction. Finally, some perspectives and outlooks are also addressed. In short, the review summarizes a useful asymmetric microenvironment tailoring strategy to speed up synthesis of high‐performance electrocatalysts for different reactions.