Fe and Co single-atom catalysts (SACs) have been widely explored in many fields, while Zn SACs are still in their infancy stage. Herein, we unexpectedly found that atomically dispersed Zn 2+ on N-doped carbon material (Zn-N-C) exhibited high catalytic activity on luminol-H 2 O 2 chemiluminescence (CL) reaction. The Zn-N-C SACs were readily prepared through simple pyrolyzation of the cheap precursors (dopamine and ZnCl 2 ). The mechanism of Zn SAC-catalyzed CL reaction of luminol-H 2 O 2 was investigated in detail. The activity of Zn SACs originated from the Zn-N sites in the Zn-N-C structure. The monoatomic dispersion makes Zn 2+ catalytic performance change from no activity to high activity in luminol-H 2 O 2 CL reaction. This study demonstrated the particularity of the monatomic metal catalyst over the conventional metal ion. This work provides the unprecedented perspective for design of new metal SACs in CL reaction.