Single-atom catalyst for use in a water splitting process and a method for preparing the same

1 . A method of preparing a single-atom catalyst for use in a water splitting process comprising; at least one support material; and at least one metal catalyst deposited on a surface of the at least one support material, wherein: the at least one support material is made of tungsten carbide obtained from a tungstate-metal-aryl compound precursor, and the at least one metal catalyst is selected from the group consisting of Fe, Ni, Mn, Co, Cu, Zn, V, Ru, Ir, Ca, Pd, and Pt or combinations thereof, comprising:

providing an aqueous solution of at least one aryl compound,

adding a solution of at least one metal salt, wherein the metal is selected from the group consisting of Fe, Ni, Mn, Co, Cu, Zn, V, Ru, Ir, Ca, Pd, and Pt to the aryl compound solution,

adding a sodium tungstate solution to the aryl compound-metal solution, whereby a tungstate-metal-aryl compound precursor is precipitated,

collecting the tungstate-metal-aryl compound precursor, and

calcinating the tungstate-metal-aryl compound precursor at a temperature between 70° and 1100° C. to obtain the single-atom catalyst.

2 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one aryl compound is dopamine.

3 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein when two different metal salts are used, feeding amounts of the two different metal salts are adjusted to obtain different amounts and ratios of the two metals in the tungstate-metal-aryl compound precursor.

4 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein calcinating the tungstate-metal-aryl compound precursor is done at a temperature between 80° and 900° C.