Implanting oxophilic metal in PtRu nanowires for hydrogen oxidation catalysis

Zhongliang Huang; Shengnan Hu; Mingzi Sun; Yong Xu; Shangheng Liu; Renjie Ren; Lin Zhuang; Ting-Shan Chan; Zhiwei Hu; Tianyi Ding; Jing Zhou; Liangbin Liu; Mingmin Wang; Yu-Cheng Huang; Na Tian; Lingzheng Bu; Bolong Huang; Xiaoqing Huang

doi:10.1038/s41467-024-45369-x

Implanting oxophilic metal in PtRu nanowires for hydrogen oxidation catalysis

Nat Commun. 2024 Feb 6;15(1):1097. doi: 10.1038/s41467-024-45369-x.

Authors

Zhongliang Huang^#¹, Shengnan Hu^#¹, Mingzi Sun², Yong Xu³, Shangheng Liu¹, Renjie Ren⁴, Lin Zhuang⁴, Ting-Shan Chan⁵, Zhiwei Hu⁶, Tianyi Ding¹, Jing Zhou⁷, Liangbin Liu¹, Mingmin Wang¹, Yu-Cheng Huang⁸, Na Tian¹, Lingzheng Bu⁹, Bolong Huang¹⁰, Xiaoqing Huang^{11

12}

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory for Physical Chemistry of Solid Surfaces, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Xiamen University, Xiamen, 361005, China.
² Department of Applied Biology and Chemical Technology, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR, 999077, China.
³ Nano-X Vacuum Interconnected Nano-X Vacuum Interconnected Workstation, Suzhou Institute of Nano-Tech and Nano-Bionics (SINANO), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Suzhou, Jiangsu, 215123, China. yongxu@gdut.edu.cn.
⁴ College of Chemistry and Molecular Sciences, Hubei Key Lab of Electrochemical Power Sources, Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430072, China.
⁵ National Synchrotron Radiation Research Center, 101 Hsin-Ann Road, Hsinchu, 30076, Taiwan.
⁶ Max Planck Institute for Chemical Physics of Solids, Nothnitzer Strasse 40, Dresden, 01187, Germany.
⁷ Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, 201800, China.
⁸ Department of Electrophysics, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Hsinchu, 30010, Taiwan.
⁹ College of Energy, Xiamen University, Xiamen, 361102, China. lzbu@xmu.edu.cn.
¹⁰ Department of Applied Biology and Chemical Technology, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR, 999077, China. bhuang@polyu.edu.hk.
¹¹ State Key Laboratory for Physical Chemistry of Solid Surfaces, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Xiamen University, Xiamen, 361005, China. hxq006@xmu.edu.cn.
¹² Innovation Laboratory for Sciences and Technologies of Energy Materials of Fujian Province (IKKEM), Xiamen, 361005, China. hxq006@xmu.edu.cn.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Bimetallic PtRu are promising electrocatalysts for hydrogen oxidation reaction in anion exchange membrane fuel cell, where the activity and stability are still unsatisfying. Here, PtRu nanowires were implanted with a series of oxophilic metal atoms (named as i-M-PR), significantly enhancing alkaline hydrogen oxidation reaction (HOR) activity and stability. With the dual doping of In and Zn atoms, the i-ZnIn-PR/C shows mass activity of 10.2 A mg_Pt+Ru^-1 at 50 mV, largely surpassing that of commercial Pt/C (0.27 A mg_Pt^-1) and PtRu/C (1.24 A mg_Pt+Ru^-1). More importantly, the peak power density and specific power density are as high as 1.84 W cm^-2 and 18.4 W mg_Pt+Ru^-1 with a low loading (0.1 mg cm^-2) anion exchange membrane fuel cell. Advanced experimental characterizations and theoretical calculations collectively suggest that dual doping with In and Zn atoms optimizes the binding strengths of intermediates and promotes CO oxidation, enhancing the HOR performances. This work deepens the understanding of developing novel alloy catalysts, which will attract immediate interest in materials, chemistry, energy and beyond.