Resolving the structure of Earth-abundant metal single-atom catalyst materials with enhanced electrochemical performance

This proposal aims to study the coordination and the interactions between Ni/Mn layered double hydroxides (NML) and graphene-acid (GA) systems with enhanced electrochemical performance and the working mechanism of NML-GA in supercapacitors by XANES/EXAFS. The optimized concentration of GA played a key role in obtaining NML/GA hybrid with enhanced electrochemical performance. We suspect that incorporating the optimized amount of functionalized graphene moiety leads to strong interfacial interactions with NML, substantially enhancing the electrochemical performance with respect to both NML or GA alone and , exhibiting a peak when 15 wt.% of GA is added. Investigating the coordination structure of such materials is crucial in establishing the link between their performance and their structure and thus understanding the mechanism behind the electrochemical enhancement.