Recent Progress in Thermal Conversion of CO ₂ via Single‐Atom Site Catalysis

CO 2 emission has been an international issue of great concern. Utilizing of CO 2 , especially converting it to value‐added products, is widely investigated, among which the thermal conversion of CO 2 has enormous potential for industry. Researches on single‐atom site catalysis (SAC) have become increasingly systematic during the last years. High performance and distinctive selectivity that SAC exhibits attribute to the isolated structure a large extent. To understand the structure–performance relationship of SAC in CO 2 activation, issues including substrate, active components, coordination, chemical structure, etc. are of the essence not only in academia but also in industry. However, it is far away from the vision that the synthetic procedure and reaction pathway are deeply comprehended, thereupon precise single‐atom sites with specific structure are constructed and elementary reactions are regulated at will. Still a lot of efforts are needed to this field. Herein, CO 2 reduction reactions are reviewed according to the products, and then catalysts are introduced by the substrate. The promoter, stability, synthesis/regeneration, characterization, and theory calculation issue related to SAC and CO 2 activation are comprehensively summarized and discussed. Looking back the progress, challenge and outlook of single‐atom site catalysis are also proposed.