RII Track-4:NSF: In-Situ/Operando Characterizations of Single Atom Catalysts for Clean Fuel Generation

In-Situ/Operando Characterizations of Single Atom Catalysts for Clean Fuel Generation Doo Young Kim, Department of Chemistry, University of Kentucky Project overview: This EPSCoR track-4 proposal seeks to establish strong and in-depth collaborations with the US premier x-ray absorption fine structure absorption and X-ray scattering facilities available at the Argonne National Laboratory, for the in situ/operando characterization of single atom catalysts (SACs) for green hydrogen generation and electrochemical CO2 conversion processes. Besides the advantage of 100 % metal utilization and promise for low-cost, highly stable catalyst materials, SACs have well-defined arrangement of active sites involving single atoms, serving as an ideal platform for investigating the structure-property- function relation of electrocatalysts. In-situ/operando X-ray studies combined with in-situ vibrational spectroscopy and highly sensitive mass spectrometry will unveil information about catalyst restructuring, adsorption/desorption of reactant and intermediate molecules, and dynamic change of local environments at atomic scale [1]. The outcomes of this project will pave a way to developing low-cost, highly selective, and durable electrocatalysts. 1