LAUSR

The concept of "single atom catalysis" was first proposed by Zhang, Li and Liu in 2011. The single atom catalysts (SACs) have a very high catalytic activity and greatly improved atom utilization ratio. At present, SACs have become the frontier and advanced functional 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 properties such as surface reactivity and mechanical stability. The allied paradigm products of SACs and aerogels can fully reflect their structural advantages and lead to new enhancement effects. Herein, we propose a general concept of "atomic aerogel materials" (AAMs) (or single atom aerogels (SAAs)) to describe this interesting single atom 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 micron, nano, or sub-nano meter pore structures) and atomic-level AAMs (with atomic-defective or oxygen-bridged sub-nano pore structures). The basic unit of the former (i.e., single-atom-functionalized aerogels) is the carrier materials in nano structures, and the latter (i.e., single-atom-built aerogels) is the single metal atoms in atomic structures. The atomic-defective or oxygen-bridged AAMs would be important future development directions in versatile heterogeneous catalytic or non-catalytic fields. The designing proposals, latent challenges, and coping strategies of this new "atomic-nano system" in practical applications are pointed out as well. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.