Nanoscale Horizons is a leading journal for the publication of exceptionally high-quality, innovative nanoscience and nanotechnology. To celebrate the excellent articles that are published in the journal, we asked some of our authors to discuss their research in more detail.
In this post, we hear from Yimeng Sun, Lin Tao, Yaqiong Su and Baigang An as they discuss their recent article, ‘Emerging two-dimensional supported atomic and cluster catalysts for CO2 electroreduction‘.
An introduction from the authors
The electrocatalytic carbon dioxide reduction reaction (CO2RR) has emerged as a promising approach for transforming CO2 into value-added chemicals and fuels using renewable electricity. Among the diverse catalyst platforms explored to date, two-dimensional supported catalysts have attracted considerable attention due to their tunable electronic structures, abundant anchoring sites, and well-defined active centers.
Although single-atom catalysts have demonstrated remarkable activity and selectivity for CO2RR, growing evidence suggests that catalytic performance is governed not only by the nature of the active site but also by the number and spatial arrangement of neighboring metal centers. Expanding from isolated single atoms to double atoms, three-atom ensembles, and metal clusters creates new opportunities to tailor adsorption energetics, charge redistribution, and reaction pathways, ultimately enabling more precise control over catalytic activity and product selectivity.
In this review, we examine recent advances in two-dimensional supported catalysts for CO2RR, with a particular focus on how active-site complexity shapes catalytic behavior. By bringing together experimental progress and insights from density functional theory (DFT), we highlight the structure–activity relationships that govern the formation of key C1 products and discuss how these insights can guide the rational design of next-generation CO2RR catalysts.
Highlights of this study
- We provide a comprehensive comparison of single-atom, double-atom, three-atom, and cluster-based active centers supported on two-dimensional materials.
- We discuss how the number and geometric arrangement of active sites influence CO2 activation, reaction intermediate stabilization, and product selectivity.
- We highlight the critical role of density functional theory in elucidating reaction mechanisms and identifying key descriptors for catalytic performance.
- We summarize emerging structure–activity relationships that link atomic-scale catalyst architectures to CO2RR activity and selectivity.
Next steps
Future research will increasingly focus on understanding more complex active-site architectures and their dynamic evolution under operating conditions. While significant progress has been made in optimizing activity and selectivity, the thermodynamic stability of multi-atom sites and metal clusters remains an important yet often overlooked challenge. Structural reconstruction, aggregation, or dissolution during electrochemical operation can substantially alter catalytic behavior and may lead to deviations from predictions based on static theoretical models. Bridging the gap between idealized computational models and experimentally accessible catalysts therefore represents a critical direction for the field. Advances in operando characterization techniques, combined with increasingly sophisticated theoretical simulations, will be essential for capturing catalyst evolution in real time and establishing more reliable design principles for efficient, selective, and durable CO2RR catalysts.
Meet the authors
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Yimeng Sun received her B.E. degree in Energy Storage Science and Engineering from the University of Science and Technology Liaoning in 2025. She is currently a master’s student in Chemical Engineering and Technology at the same institution, under the supervision of Associate Professor Lin Tao. Her research focuses on the electroreduction of carbon dioxide. |
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Lin Tao is currently an Associate Professor at the University of Science and Technology Liaoning. He received his Ph.D. in Metallurgical Engineering from the same institution in 2021. His research interests focus on electrochemical materials, computational chemistry, and metal oxide semiconductor gas sensors. |
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Yaqiong Su is currently a full Professor in School of Chemistry, Xi’an Jiaotong University, China. He received his Ph.D. degree in Catalysis at Eindhoven University of Technology in 2019. His main research interests are computational energy catalysis, electrochemistry of materials, and interfaces/surface-enhanced Raman Theory of Surface Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy. |
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Baigang An is currently a Professor at the University of Science and Technology Liaoning. He received his Ph.D. in Applied Chemistry from Tianjin University in 2003. His research interests focus on energy materials and electrochemical energy storage technologies. |
Emerging two-dimensional supported atomic and cluster catalysts for CO2 electroreduction
Yimeng Sun, Lin Tao, Yaqiong Su, Davoud Dastan; Han Zhang, Hongwei Zhao, Lixiang Li and Baigang An
Nanoscale Horiz. (2026) 11 (5): 1239–1279. DOI: 10.1039/d5nh00710k
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Nanoscale Horizons is a leading journal for the publication of exceptionally high-quality, innovative nanoscience and nanotechnology. The journal places an emphasis on original research that demonstrates a new concept or a new way of thinking (a conceptual advance), rather than primarily reporting technological improvements. However, outstanding articles featuring truly breakthrough developments such as record performance alone may also be published in the journal. |
