A high performance Ru single atom alloy catalyst has been successfully prepared by a team of Prof. Wu Yuen (USTC) and Prof. Li Yadong (Tsinghua University). The electron structure information of the catalyst was obtained by using HR-SRPES and XPS techniques, proposed a novel approach to solve the international problem of the instability of Ru-based catalysts under acidic oxidative conditions [Nature Catalysis, 2(4): 304-313 (2019)]. The team also prepared a single-atom Fe catalyst with good ORR activity in both acidic and alkaline solutions, which achieved good performance in PEMFCs and Zn-air as an air cathode. The chemical states and coordination environments of single Fe atoms are determined at the atomic level by using NEXAFS and EXAFS measurements. It provides a new way for the preparation of high-density single-atom catalysts for energy conversion [ACS Catalysis 9(3):2158- 2163(2019)].

Determination of the chemical states and coordination environment of 

Fe single atom at the atomic level by NEXAFS and EXFAS measurements