On September 25, Clarivate announced the recipients of the 2025 citation Laureates, with 22 distinguished scholars from 8 countries receiving this honor. Academician Tao Zhang was awarded the 2025 citation Laureates in chemistry for his pioneering contributions in the field of "single-atom catalysis",  becoming the first scientist from mainland China to receive this award.

In 2011, Tao Zhang and colleagues proposed the concept of "single-atom catalysis," advancing heterogeneous catalysis research to the precise atomic scale and laying the scientific foundation for precise control of heterogeneous catalytic processes. This breakthrough opened up an entirely new research direction. The systematic research by Zhang's team in single-atom catalysis has not only propelled the development of catalytic science itself but also had a wide impact on several cutting-edge interdisciplinary fields, including energy and chemical engineering, materials science, and biomedicine. This new concept of single-atom catalysis has generated broad academic influence while also guiding and driving practical industrial applications. Today, new processes at the ten-thousand-ton scale have already been industrialized, providing fresh technological support for green chemistry and the "dual carbon" goals.