Carbon materials have been widely used as substrates to anchor single atoms owing to large surface, stable chemical properties, and high conductivity [
64,
65]. Especially, graphene which possesses a monolayer planar structure has attracted much attention for its outstanding performance. The functional groups and defects embedded in the graphene sheets can modulate the surface and act as anchoring sites to stabilize the single atoms. In addition, the rapid mass and electron transport kinetics brought by the unique structure and high conductivity make it possible to achieve a superior electrocatalytic activity in energy field. Tour
et al. [
66] fabricated a Ru SAC supported on N-doped graphene matrix (denoted as Ru-N/G-750) through the annealing of graphene oxide precursor with trace Ru element in the presence of NH
3 (
Fig. 1a). The atomic dispersion form of Ru atoms was identified by STEM techniques (
Figs. 1b-d). In the NH
3 atmosphere, the nitrogen doping and reduction of graphene oxide were accomplished simultaneously. The obtained Ru-N/G-750 showed high activity and excellent stability toward oxygen reduction reaction (ORR)
via a four-electron pathway with a relatively low potential in acidic media. The mass activity was calculated to be 7.5 times higher than commercial Pt/C (
Fig. 1e). After 10, 000 cycles durability test, only negligible decay could be observed and 90% activity were reserved with well-preserved Ru single atomic species, showing its remarkable stability (
Fig. 1f). Moreover, the Ru-N/G-750 showed extraordinary tolerance to carbon oxide and methanol which could not be witnessed in commercial Pt/C catalyst (
Fig. 1g). The X-ray adsorption fine structure analysis (XAFS) revealed that Ru element existed in form of Ru-N
4 moieties. However, the DFT calculations demonstrated that ORR activity preferably originated from the Ru-oxo-N
4 moieties rather than Ru-N
4 under the oxidative electrocatalytic condition. It is worth noting that the unique ordered structure of graphene also makes it an ideal platform to predict the performance of SACs combining theoretical calculations. Huang's group [
67] synthesized a series of 3d metal SACs (Fe, Co and Ni) supported on nitrogen-doped holey graphene frameworks (which were denoted as M–NHGFs, M = Fe, Co or Ni) through a rational and general approach. It was revealed that all the M–NHGFs shared the same coordination configuration in the form of MN
4C
4 by thorough analyses of XAFS results and images of annular dark-field scanning transmission electron microscope. Based on this ideal model system, DFT calculations were utilized to predict the catalytic activity of M–NHGFs towards oxygen evolution reaction (OER), deducing the activity trend was Ni–NHGF > Co–NHGF > Fe–NHGF. The speculation was further confirmed by electrochemical measurement, showing that Ni–NHGF displayed the most outstanding catalytic activity and stability. The overpotential of Ni–NHGF at a current density of 10 mA/cm
2 (
η10) was as low as 331 mV, which was superior to Co–NHGF, Fe–NHGF, and most of the documented nanoparticulate Ni catalysts.