Lithium−sulfur (Li−S) batteries suffer from multiple complex and often interwoven issues, such as the low electronic conductivity of sulfur and Li 2 S/Li 2 S 2 , shuttle effect, and sluggish electrochemical kinetics of lithium polysulfides (LiPSs). Guided by theoretical calculations, a multifunctional catalyst of isolated single-atom nickel in an optimal Ni−N 5 active moiety incorporated in hollow nitrogen-doped porous carbon (Ni−N 5 /HNPC) is constructed and acts as an ideal host for a sulfur cathode. The host improved electrical conductivity, enhanced physical-chemical dual restricting capability toward LiPSs, and, more importantly, boosted the redox reaction kinetics by the Ni−N 5 active moiety. Therefore, the Ni−N 5 /HNPC/S cathode exhibits superior rate performance, long-term cycling stability, and good areal capacity at high sulfur loading. This work highlights the important role of the coordination number of active centers in single-atom catalysts and provides a strategy to design a hollow nanoarchitecture with single-atom active sites for high-performance Li−S batteries.
Dual‐Active‐Sites Single‐Atom catalysts (DASs SACs) are not only the improvement of SACs but also the expansion of dual‐atom catalysts. The DASs SACs contains dual active sites, one of which is a single atomic active site, and the other active site can be a single atom or other type of active site, endowing DASs SACs with excellent catalytic performance and a wide range of applications. The DASs SACs are categorized into seven types, including the neighboring mono metallic DASs SACs, bonded DASs SACs, non‐bonded DASs SACs, bridged DASs SACs, asymmetric DASs SACs, metal and nonmetal combined DASs SACs and space separated DASs SACs. Based on the above classification, the general methods for the preparation of DASs SACs are comprehensively described, especially their structural characteristics are discussed in detail. Meanwhile, the in‐depth assessments of DASs SACs for variety applications including electrocatalysis, thermocatalysis and photocatalysis are provided, as well as their unique catalytic mechanism are addressed. Moreover, the prospects and challenges for DASs SACs and related applications are highlighted. The authors believe the great expectations for DASs SACs, and this review will provide novel conceptual and methodological perspectives and exciting opportunities for further development and application of DASs SACs.
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