Graphene-Supported Single-Atom Catalysts for Sustainable Organic Conversions: Coordination Engineering, Selectivity, and Atom-Efficient Catalysis
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Graphene-Supported Single-Atom Catalysts for Sustainable Organic Conversions: Coordination Engineering, Selectivity, and Atom-Efficient CatalysisAbstract
Graphene-supported single-atom catalysts (G-SACs) combine the maximized metal utilization of isolated atoms with the recoverability, conductivity and structural tunability of a heterogeneous carbon support. They are therefore attractive for sustainable organic synthesis, where precious-metal economy, chemoselectivity and product purification are major concerns. This review examines the design, synthesis, characterization and catalytic application of isolated transition-metal atoms stabilized on graphene, graphene oxide and heteroatom-doped graphene. Particular attention is given to M-Nx-C coordination environments, vacancy defects, support-induced electronic effects and the distinction between stable single atoms and dynamically generated clusters. Organic transformations discussed include selective hydrogenation, oxidation, C-C and C-heteroatom bond formation, carbon dioxide incorporation and emerging bimetallic single-atom catalysis. Graphene-supported Pd single atoms illustrate how isolated sites can suppress ensemble-dependent over-hydrogenation, while Cu, Ni and Au single atoms demonstrate the ability of vacancy and nitrogen coordination to tune redox chemistry. A 2026 Pd1Au1/graphene bimetallic single-atom system has further shown that neighboring unlike single atoms can unlock C-C coupling pathways that are inactive on the corresponding monometallic SACs, highlighting the next stage of atomic-site engineering. Challenges include low or uncertain site density, agglomeration under reaction conditions, energy-intensive support preparation, limited substrate-scope data and inconsistent reporting of metal-normalized productivity. Future progress requires operando spectroscopy, scalable defect engineering, structured graphene supports, explicit leaching tests, critical-metal recovery and process-level green metrics. G-SACs offer a powerful bridge between homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysis when the atomic structure of the active site is demonstrably preserved during organic conversion.
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Copyright (c) 2026 Dr.Narayana Gundoju, B. Jyothi, B. Sowmya, Dinesh Kumar, A. Pavani, A. Madhuri (Author)
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