# Single-atom catalysis open-access selection

Search date: 2026-09-16 (Asia/Shanghai)

## Purpose and criteria

This revised five-paper set is intended for a 60-minute journal club on the question: **What evidence connects isolated metal sites to useful catalytic performance?**

Lang et al. (2019) was retained as requested. Four additional primary research papers published in 2017–2022 were selected to cover synthesis, thermal stability, reaction mechanism, and scale-up. Selection favored openly accessible Nature Communications papers with publisher-hosted PDFs. Existing prepared reading-pack files were not used.

Bibliographic identity was checked against Crossref metadata. Full-text access was separately tested online. No PDF was downloaded into the project or attached during this task.

## Actual queries

The following web searches were run:

1. `site:nature.com/articles single-atom catalyst synthesis thermal stability Nature Communications 2017 2022 pdf`
2. `site:nature.com/articles single-atom catalyst reaction mechanism Nature Communications 2017 2022`
3. `site:nature.com/articles "scalable" "single-atom catalysts" Nature Communications`
4. `site:nature.com/articles single-atom catalyst structure performance relationship Nature Communications`
5. `"A universal ligand mediated method for large scale synthesis of transition metal single atom catalysts" DOI`
6. `"Directing reaction pathways via in situ control of active site geometries in PdAu single-atom alloy catalysts" DOI`
7. `"Breaking the scaling relationship via thermally stable Pt/Cu single atom alloys for catalytic dehydrogenation" DOI`
8. `"Building up libraries and production line for single atom catalysts with precursor-atomization strategy"`
9. `10.1038/s41467-019-12510-0 PMC PDF`
10. `10.1038/s41467-019-12510-0 full text PDF Nature Communications`
11. `"A universal ligand mediated method" PMC`

Sources used were Nature Communications article and PDF pages, PubMed Central, institutional open-access records, and Crossref publisher-deposited metadata. No source requiring an unconfigured credential was used.

## Final five papers

### 1. Lang et al. — high-loading, thermally stable isolated Pt

**Title:** Non defect-stabilized thermally stable single-atom catalyst  
**Authors:** Rui Lang; Wei Xi; Jin-Cheng Liu; Yi-Tao Cui; Tianbo Li; Adam Fraser Lee; Fang Chen; Yang Chen; Lei Li; Lin Li; Jian Lin; Shu Miao; Xiaoyan Liu; Ai-Qin Wang; Xiaodong Wang; Jun Luo; Botao Qiao; Jun Li; Tao Zhang  
**Year:** 2019  
**Journal:** Nature Communications  
**DOI:** [10.1038/s41467-018-08136-3](https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-08136-3)  
**Publisher article:** https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-018-08136-3  
**Full-text PDF:** https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-018-08136-3.pdf  
**Access verification:** The publisher URL resolved as a 10-page PDF. The user also reports that this PDF is attached in Library; the Library attachment was not re-downloaded or replaced.  
**Reason for selection:** This paper directly joins synthesis and thermal-stability evidence. The publisher text reports isolated Pt stabilized on Fe₂O₃ through a strong covalent metal–support interaction, characterization after high-temperature calcination, and methane-combustion performance. It anchors discussion of whether isolated atoms remain present under conditions relevant to catalytic use.

### 2. Sun et al. — thermal stability in an industrially relevant dehydrogenation

**Title:** Breaking the scaling relationship via thermally stable Pt/Cu single atom alloys for catalytic dehydrogenation  
**Authors:** Guodong Sun; Zhi-Jian Zhao; Rentao Mu; Shenjun Zha; Lulu Li; Sai Chen; Ketao Zang; Jun Luo; Zhenglong Li; Stephen C. Purdy; A. Jeremy Kropf; Jeffrey T. Miller; Liang Zeng; Jinlong Gong  
**Year:** 2018  
**Journal:** Nature Communications  
**DOI:** [10.1038/s41467-018-06967-8](https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-06967-8)  
**Publisher article:** https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-018-06967-8  
**Full-text PDF:** https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-018-06967-8.pdf  
**Access verification:** The publisher URL resolved as a 9-page PDF.  
**Reason for selection:** This study tests isolated Pt in a Cu host during propane dehydrogenation, an industrially relevant high-temperature reaction. The retrieved publisher material connects the single-atom-alloy geometry and DFT scaling argument with selectivity, conversion, and stability, complementing Lang’s oxide-supported single atoms with a metal-host architecture.

### 3. Ouyang et al. — reversible atom/cluster switching and reaction pathway

**Title:** Directing reaction pathways via in situ control of active site geometries in PdAu single-atom alloy catalysts  
**Authors:** Mengyao Ouyang; Konstantinos G. Papanikolaou; Alexey Boubnov; Adam S. Hoffman; Georgios Giannakakis; Simon R. Bare; Michail Stamatakis; Maria Flytzani-Stephanopoulos; E. Charles H. Sykes  
**Year:** 2021  
**Journal:** Nature Communications  
**DOI:** [10.1038/s41467-021-21555-z](https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-21555-z)  
**Publisher article:** https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-21555-z  
**Full-text PDF:** https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-21555-z.pdf  
**Access verification:** The publisher URL resolved as an 11-page PDF.  
**Reason for selection:** The abstract and open full-text record report that the same PdAu catalyst can be moved between a single-atom-alloy phase and a Pd-cluster phase, producing different ethanol-dehydrogenation selectivity. This controlled structural switch offers unusually direct evidence connecting isolated-site geometry to reaction pathway rather than merely correlating two separately prepared catalysts.

### 4. He et al. — continuous production above 1 kg/day

**Title:** Building up libraries and production line for single atom catalysts with precursor-atomization strategy  
**Authors:** Xiaohui He; Hao Zhang; Xingcong Zhang; Ying Zhang; Qian He; Hongyu Chen; Yujie Cheng; Mi Peng; Xuetao Qin; Hongbing Ji; Ding Ma  
**Year:** 2022  
**Journal:** Nature Communications  
**DOI:** [10.1038/s41467-022-33442-2](https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-33442-2)  
**Publisher article:** https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-33442-2  
**Full-text PDF:** https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-33442-2.pdf  
**Access verification:** The publisher URL resolved as a 10-page PDF.  
**Reason for selection:** This is the strongest scale-up paper found in the search. The open publisher record reports a precursor-atomization route covering 19 single-atom catalysts and three related catalyst classes, a homemade continuous production line exceeding 1 kg/day, structural uniformity across batches, and retained Suzuki–Miyaura coupling properties. It supplies concrete production-rate evidence absent from most SAC scale-up claims.

### 5. Qi et al. — robust synthesis, selectivity, and mechanistic rationale

**Title:** Highly selective and robust single-atom catalyst Ru₁/NC for reductive amination of aldehydes/ketones  
**Authors:** Haifeng Qi; Ji Yang; Fei Liu; LeiLei Zhang; Jingyi Yang; Xiaoyan Liu; Lin Li; Yang Su; Yuefeng Liu; Rui Hao; Aiqin Wang; Tao Zhang  
**Year:** 2021  
**Journal:** Nature Communications  
**DOI:** [10.1038/s41467-021-23429-w](https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-23429-w)  
**Publisher article:** https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-23429-w  
**Verified open full text:** https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8172939/  
**Access verification:** The complete article opened in PubMed Central and identifies the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. In this session, the direct Nature PDF redirected to a Nature authorization endpoint, so it is not presented as a verified publisher-PDF route.  
**Reason for selection:** The open full-text record reports synthesis of a Ru₁–N₃ catalyst, high selectivity and productivity in reductive amination, resistance to CO and sulfur, stability under harsh hydrotreating conditions, and a mechanism-based explanation involving moderate hydrogen activation. It adds a demanding liquid-phase transformation and a direct link between isolated-site coordination and useful selectivity.

## Coverage and discussion value

- **Synthesis:** Lang et al.; Qi et al.; He et al.
- **Thermal stability:** Lang et al.; Sun et al.; Qi et al.
- **Reaction mechanism and site attribution:** Ouyang et al.; Qi et al.; Sun et al.
- **Scale-up:** He et al., with an explicit production rate above 1 kg/day.

The set supports a progression from identifying and stabilizing isolated atoms, through controlled comparisons of atomic and clustered states, to useful reaction performance and continuous production. It also exposes different standards of evidence: post-treatment characterization, stability during reaction, reversible structural switching, computation-supported mechanism, and batch/production-line reproducibility.

## Access and evidence limitations

- Four publisher PDF URLs were directly resolved during this task; no PDF was saved locally or attached.
- Qi et al. was verified through the complete PubMed Central article. Its publisher PDF was not accessible through the web tool because it redirected to an authorization endpoint.
- The Lang PDF was reported by the user as already attached in Library, but that attachment was not used as a substitute for the new online access check.
- This file records selection rationale, not a full critical reading of every PDF. No page or figure claims are made.
- The earlier reading-pack files and existing Literature Inbox records were not modified.

## Literature Inbox outcome

Four new records—Sun et al. 2018, Ouyang et al. 2021, He et al. 2022, and Qi et al. 2021—were staged successfully in Literature Inbox. All four receipts report **pending** state. DOI values, publication years, authors, publisher identities, and verified full-text URLs were preserved in the submitted metadata.

Lang et al. 2019 was already present and was left unchanged. The earlier collection and all existing records were left unchanged.