Maryam Rezaei

University of Tehran / Supercapacitor Materials

Advisor: Prof. Ali Ahmadi

Maryam Rezaei synthesises and characterises nanocomposite electrodes comprising two-dimensional Ti₃C₂Tₓ MXene nanosheets functionalised with phosphovanadomolybdate polyoxometalate (POM) clusters for aqueous supercapacitor applications at the University of Tehran's Chemistry department, under Prof. Ali Ahmadi. MXenes offer outstanding volumetric capacitance but limited energy density relative to batteries; POM clusters contribute multiple accessible redox states (up to 24 electrons per cluster) that dramatically increase stored charge. Maryam has developed an electrostatic assembly protocol that anchors the POM clusters uniformly on the MXene surface through complementary charge interactions, characterised by XPS, TEM, and Raman spectroscopy. The resulting nanocomposite achieves a specific capacitance of 1,140 F/g at 1 A/g in 1 M H₂SO₄ — 3.8-fold above bare MXene — and retains 91% capacitance after 10,000 galvanostatic charge-discharge cycles at neutral pH, making it compatible with flexible and wearable device enclosures. Maryam's collaboration with a Sabic-funded Iranian research consortium provides both materials characterisation resources and a potential customer for high-surface-area energy storage materials in grid-storage and portable electronics applications.