Yuanyuan Wang and Wenlei Zhu's group at Nanjing University, China, and Yuehe Lin at Washington State University, USA, recently reported the development of a three-dimensional ordered mesoporous carbon skeleton with Ni single atom support using the superlattice blotting strategy for efficient electrocatalytic hydrogen production. Firstly, they derived an ordered mesoporous framework based on finite element simulation, which is of great significance for promoting uniform gas distribution, stabilizing the gas-liquid-solid interface of nanoscale hydrophilic surfaces, and enhancing mass transfer kinetics. Then, the proposed superlattice blotting strategy integrated confined oxidation to achieve thermal stability, ligand carbonization to maintain superlattice-derived porosity, acid etching to improve hydrophilicity, high-temperature graphitization to enhance conductivity, and in-situ heteroatom doping to optimize Ni coordination for the successful preparation of a three-dimensional ordered mesoporous carbon skeleton with Ni single atom support. The resulting Ni-N₂S₂ and Ni-N₃P catalysts exhibited excellent electrocatalytic activity, reaching overpotents of 239 mV (OER, 20 mA cm⁻²) and 90 mV (HER, 10 mA cm⁻²), respectively. Ni-N₂S₂⁽⁺⁾Ni-N₃P^(-) electrolysis pairs can achieve stable electrolysis performance for more than 100 hours. This work, published in CCS Chemistry, introduces a finite element simulation guidance framework to customize three-phase equilibrium, as well as confined oxidation pathways to design highly active and durable single-atom electrocatalysts. 

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