Atomic Aerogel Materials (or Single‐Atom Aerogels): An Interesting New Paradigm in Materials Science and Catalysis Science

Abstract

The concept of “single‐atom catalysis” is first proposed by Tao Zhang, Jun Li, and Jingyue Liu in 2011. Single‐atom catalysts (SACs) have a very high catalytic activity and greatly improved atom utilization ratio. At present, SACs have become frontier materials in the field of catalysis. Aerogels are highly porous materials with extremely low density and extremely high porosity. These pores play a key role in determining their surface reactivity and mechanical stability. The alliance of SACs and aerogels can fully reflect their structural advantages and lead to new enhancement effects. Herein, a general concept of “atomic aerogel materials” (AAMs) (or single‐atom aerogels (SAAs)) is proposed to describe this interesting new paradigm in both material and catalysis fields. Based on the basic units of “gel,” the AAMs can be divided into two categories: carrier‐level AAMs (with micro‐, nano‐, or sub‐nanometer pore structures) and atomic‐level AAMs (with atomic‐defective or oxygen‐bridged sub‐nanopore structures). The basic unit of the former (i.e., single‐atom‐functionalized aerogels) is the carrier materials in nanostructures, and the latter (i.e., single‐atom‐built aerogels) is the single metal atoms in atomic structures. The atomic‐defective or oxygen‐bridged AAMs will be important development directions in versatile heterogeneous catalytic or noncatalytic fields. The design proposals, latent challenges, and coping strategies of this new “atomic nanosystem” in applications are pointed out as well.