Single-Atom Pt Catalyst for Effective C–F Bond Activation via Hydrodefluorination

This study presents a single-atom Pt catalyst that achieves efficient C–F bond activation, which is a challenging reaction in both chemical synthesis and environmental remediation of recalcitrant fluorinated hydrocarbons. Up to 1.6 wt % Pt was loaded as a single-atom on SiC substrate (Pt1/SiC) using a facile, scalable wet-chemical method developed based on anchor-site and photoreduction techniques. The high catalytic activity of Pt1/SiC for hydrodefluorination of perfluorooctanoic acid, which is a select perfluorinated pollutant of significant environmental concern, is attributed to the effective hydrogen spillover from isolated Pt onto the SiC surface where the resulting Si–H bond further redistributes with the C–F bond to accomplish hydrodefluorination.