In a groundbreaking advance for environmental catalysis and water treatment technology, researchers have developed a scalable system that integrates single-atom catalysts (SACs) within ceramic membranes, offering transformative potential for tackling persistent water contaminants. This innovative approach addresses some of the most pressing challenges that have historically impeded the deployment of SACs in real-world applications—mainly instability, limited scalability, and poor compatibility with existing infrastructure. By embedding manganese single-atom catalysts within the nanoporous architecture of zirconia-based membranes, a team led by Yang, Li, and Fu has created an ultrapermeable, highly reactive purification system that operates effectively at a pilot scale with real hospital wastewater, showcasing both remarkable stability and catalytic efficiency.
Single-atom catalysts have long been heralded for their extraordinary catalytic performance, attributable to the maximized exposure of isolated active sites that enable unparalleled reaction specificity and activity. Yet despite promising laboratory-scale results, the deployment of SACs in water treatment has faced severe hurdles due to their intrinsic instability under aqueous environments and difficulty in producing materials at larger scales without compromising catalytic activity. Most traditional approaches resulted in either aggregation of atomic sites or loss of activity over time, limiting their transition from academic curiosity to practical solutions. The current innovation powerfully addresses these limitations through a hierarchical, cross-scale assembly embedding SACs in ceramic membranes, thus harmonizing catalytic performance with industrial viability.
The key to their success lies in a sophisticated multiscale design that stabilizes single manganese atoms within micropores derived from metal-organic frameworks embedded inside the nanopores of a zirconia ceramic membrane. This cross-scale confinement accomplishes two crucial functions: first, it prevents sintering or migration of these atoms, thereby sustaining atomic dispersion and catalytic activity; second, it exploits the nanoporous structure to concentrate reactant molecules in close proximity to active sites. This nanoengineering translates directly into enhanced catalytic turnover, with degradation kinetics boosted by a factor of 100,000 compared to conventional bulk catalytic systems, demonstrating the immense benefit of nanoconfinement.
Moreover, the ceramic membrane itself functions on multiple hierarchical levels. Beyond stabilizing single atoms, the membrane’s mesoporous and macroporous scaffold facilitates advection-enhanced mass transfer—a vital factor in high-throughput water purification. Fluid dynamics within the membrane quickly channel contaminants to reactive sites, overcoming the typical permeability–reactivity trade-off that plagues many catalytic filter systems. With an exceptional water permeability rate of 150 liters per square meter per hour per bar, this system surpasses conventional catalytic membranes that often exhibit either poor flux or low decontamination efficiency. This breakthrough means faster processing times and higher throughput without sacrificing contaminant removal efficiency.
Pilot-scale testing underscores the practical impact of this technology. In a real-world hospital wastewater treatment scenario, the manganese SAC-embedded membrane achieved a strikingly high decontamination rate of approximately 9.8 × 10⁴ min⁻¹, eradicating emerging contaminants known for their persistence and toxicological risk in aquatic environments. The membrane maintained over 97% removal efficiency consistently over a continuous 168-hour run, without significant flux decline or detectable leaching of manganese into the treated water. Such stability and durability suggest a practically viable solution for continuous long-term operations in diverse wastewater infrastructures.
An additional advantage of this membrane lies in its intrinsic self-cleaning properties. The hierarchical pore network and chemical design contribute to mitigating fouling—a pervasive challenge in membrane-based processes. Through catalytic degradation of organic foulants accumulated at the membrane surface and within nanopores, the system preserves flux and catalytic performance over extended periods. This self-regenerating feature greatly reduces maintenance requirements and prolongs membrane lifespan, addressing a critical barrier to widespread adoption of catalytic water treatment materials.
The study exemplifies a masterful integration of materials chemistry, nanotechnology, catalysis, and environmental engineering. Combining metal-organic framework precursors, advanced ceramic fabrication, and single-atom catalysis required precise control at atomic and nanoscales, while simultaneously designing for mechanical robustness and process scalability. This work highlights how crossing traditional disciplinary boundaries can solve entrenched issues—aligning atomic-level catalytic site engineering with macroscopic filtration infrastructure to yield systems ready for industrial scale-up.
Importantly, the researchers’ focus on infrastructure compatibility holds great promise for accelerating the adoption of SAC-based water treatment technologies. Many high-performance catalytic materials falter due to incompatibility with existing water treatment frameworks, necessitating expensive redesigns or upgrades. By tailoring the manganese SACs within ceramic membranes—materials already familiar and widely used in various filtration applications—the design leverages existing modular membrane units, enabling relatively straightforward integration into current treatment setups and scaling pipelines.
This technology is especially timely given the growing global urgency to address emerging contaminants, including pharmaceutical residues, endocrine-disrupting compounds, and antibiotic resistance genes. Conventional treatment approaches often fail to remove these persistent micropollutants effectively, posing risks to human health and ecosystems. The Mn-SA@CM membrane not only achieves efficient degradation of these substances, but does so rapidly and at large volumes, positioning it as a powerful tool in tackling water security and pollution challenges.
Beyond wastewater treatment, the principles demonstrated here—nano-engineered atomic site stabilization combined with hierarchical transport optimization—open avenues across a spectrum of environmental catalytic processes. Applications could extend to air purification, chemical synthesis, energy conversion, and pollutant sensing, wherever scalable single-atom catalysis integrated into functional membranes can impart enhanced activity, selectivity, and durability.
While this study marks a critical leap forward, future research will aim to explore the versatility of this cross-scale confinement strategy with other metals and catalytic reactions, expanding functional reach and economic feasibility. Continued optimization of membrane architecture and catalytic site chemistry will be essential to tailoring solutions for specific contaminant profiles and industrial contexts.
In conclusion, the pioneering development of the manganese single-atom catalyst integrated into a hierarchical ceramic membrane architecture poignantly illustrates how nanotechnology and materials engineering can converge to solve grand environmental challenges. This scalable, stable, and infrastructure-compatible system redefines what is possible in catalytic water treatment, offering a practical blueprint for translating atomic-scale breakthroughs into impactful technologies that can safeguard water resources worldwide.
Subject of Research:
Cross-scale confinement of manganese single-atom catalysts in ceramic membranes for advanced water treatment applications.
Article Title:
Large-scale deployment of single-atom catalysts via cross-scale confinement in ceramic membranes for advanced water treatment
Article References:
Yang, Y., Li, H., Fu, W. et al. Large-scale deployment of single-atom catalysts via cross-scale confinement in ceramic membranes for advanced water treatment. Nat Water (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44221-025-00512-w
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