Universal and scalable synthesis of ultrahigh-density single-atom libraries on metal oxides

Universal and scalable synthesis of ultrahigh-density single-atom libraries on metal oxides | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Physical Sciences - Article Universal and scalable synthesis of ultrahigh-density single-atom libraries on metal oxides Limin Wu, Rui-Ting Gao, Chao Fan, Zehua Gao, Lei Wang This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-8605869/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Metal oxides have served as ideal catalyst supports since the early 20th century due to their strong structural stability and excellent redox properties. However, achieving ultrahigh-loading single-atom catalysts (UHL-SACs) on these oxides remains a significant challenge, due to aggregation resulting from the lattice confinement effect in conventional synthesis. Here, we report a universal and scalable plasma-microwave strategy for synthesizing UHL-SACs on diverse metal oxide supports. This approach effectively suppresses atomic segregation by leveraging plasma-induced metal/non-metal defects, followed by rapid microwave-assisted annealing for the instantaneous anchoring of atoms. UHL-SACs of 33 distinct metal elements, along with their multimetallic single-atom mixtures on metal oxides ranging from 1D to 3D architectures and from crystalline to amorphous structures, have been successfully synthesized. The achieved metal loadings reach up to 21.02 wt% for single metals and 27.69 wt% for multimetallic systems. Notably, the 5‑MPM/Fe2O3 photoanode delivers a remarkable photoelectrochemical oxygen evolution reaction current density of 5.7 mA cm-2 at 1.23 VRHE and maintains excellent long-term stability for 600 h, which represents the highest performance reported for a metal oxide‑based semiconductor. This work proposes a general guideline for the rational design of metal oxide-supported UHL-SACs and demonstrates the ready scalability of the strategy to kilogram-scale production. Physical sciences/Chemistry/Catalysis/Electrocatalysis Physical sciences/Chemistry/Electrochemistry/Electrocatalysis Metal oxide supports Single-atom catalyst Ultra-high loading Photoelectrochemistry Full Text Additional Declarations There is NO Competing Interest. Supplementary Files GRTnatureSI0115.pdf Universal and scalable synthesis of ultrahigh-density single-atom libraries on metal oxides Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Review Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-8605869","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Physical Sciences - Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":581843130,"identity":"0c0e197f-6af2-46e3-89ff-5b38bb8f8d3f","order_by":0,"name":"Limin 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