Pb-Modified Ultrathin RuCu Nanoflowers for Active, Stable, and CO-resistant Alkaline Electrocatalytic Hydrogen Oxidation

Yuanting Dong; Zhiming Zhang; Wei Yan; Xinrui Hu; Changhong Zhan; Yong Xu; Xiaoqing Huang

doi:10.1002/anie.202311722

Pb-Modified Ultrathin RuCu Nanoflowers for Active, Stable, and CO-resistant Alkaline Electrocatalytic Hydrogen Oxidation

Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 2023 Oct 26;62(44):e202311722. doi: 10.1002/anie.202311722. Epub 2023 Sep 21.

Authors

Yuanting Dong^{1

2}, Zhiming Zhang², Wei Yan², Xinrui Hu², Changhong Zhan², Yong Xu¹, Xiaoqing Huang²

Affiliations

¹ Guangzhou Key Laboratory of Low-Dimensional Materials and Energy Storage Devices, Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Energy Materials, School of Materials and Energy, Guangdong University of Technology, Guangzhou, 510006, Guangdong, China.
² State Key Laboratory of Physical Chemistry of Solid Surfaces, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Xiamen University, Xiamen, 361005, Fujian, China.

PMID: 37702370
DOI: 10.1002/anie.202311722

Abstract

CO poisoning of Pt group metal (PGM) catalysts is a chronic problem for hydrogen oxidation reaction (HOR), the anodic reaction of hydroxide exchange membrane fuel cell (HEMFC) for converting H₂ to electric energy in sustainable manner. We demonstrate here an ultrathin Ru-based nanoflower modified with Pb (PbRuCu NF) as an active, stable, and CO-resistant catalyst for alkaline HOR. Mechanism studies show that the presence of Pb can weaken the adsorption of *H, strengthen *OH adsorption to facilitate CO oxidation, as a result of significantly enhanced HOR activity and improved CO tolerance. Furthermore, in situ electrochemical attenuated total reflection surface-enhanced infrared absorption spectroscopy (ATR-SEIRAS) suggests that Pb acts as oxygen-rich site to regulate the behavior of the linear CO adsorption. The optimized Pb_1.04 -Ru₉₂ Cu₈ /C displays a mass activity and specific activity of 1.10 A mg_Ru ^-1 and 5.55 mA cm^-2 , which are ≈10 and ≈31 times higher than those of commercial Pt/C. This work provides a facile strategy for the design of Ru-based catalyst with high activity and strong CO-resistance for alkaline HOR, which may promote the fundamental researches on the rational design of functional catalysts.

Keywords: CO Tolerance; Hydrogen Oxidation Reaction; Pb; Rucu Nanosheet; Surface Modification.

Abstract

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