Monodispersed metal sites are commonly considered as active centers that dominate the high catalytic activity and selectivity of a catalyst. Photocatalysis is a complex series of photophysical and electrocatalytic process, in which, it still remains challenges to obtain a well-defined profile on the functions of the monodispersed metal sites. Here we report that monodispersed aluminum (Al) metal sites are not active centers but they create abundant nitrogen non-metal active centers in carbon nitrides. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations show that Al metal sites serve as the bridges among isolated carbon nitride layers to establish diverse transfer channels for electrons, thus achieving rapid carrier separation. These findings provide a new perspective on understanding the important role of monodispersed metal sites for highly effective catalytic reactions.

单分散金属位点通常被认为是主导催化剂高催化活性和选择性的活性中心。光催化是一系列复杂的光物理和电催化过程，其中，要获得关于单分散金属位点功能的明确定义的概况仍然存在挑战。在这里，我们报告单分散的铝 (Al) 金属位点不是活性中心，但它们在碳氮化物中产生大量的氮非金属活性中心。密度泛函理论（DFT）计算表明，Al金属位点作为孤立的氮化碳层之间的桥梁，为电子建立不同的传输通道，从而实现快速载流子分离。