Pd-Ru pair on Pt surface for promoting hydrogen oxidation and evolution in alkaline media
Hydrogen oxidation reaction in alkaline media is critical for alkaline fuel cells and electrochemical ammonia compressors. The slow hydrogen oxidation reaction in alkaline electrolytes requires large amounts of scarce and expensive platinum catalysts. While transition metal decoration can enhance Pt catalysts' activity, it often reduces the electrochemical active surface area, limiting the improvement in Pt mass activity. Here, we enhance Pt catalysts' activity without losing surface-active sites by using a Pd-Ru pair. Utilizing a mildly catalytic thermal pyrolysis approach, Pd-Ru pairs are decorated on Pt, confirmed by extended X-ray absorption fine structure and high-angle annular dark-field scanning transmission electron microscopy. Density functional theory and ab-initio molecular dynamics simulations indicate preferred Pd and Ru dopant adsorption. The Pd-Ru decorated Pt catalyst exhibits a mass-based exchange current density of 1557 ± 85 A g<sup>-1</sup><sub>metal</sub> for hydrogen oxidation reaction, demonstrating superior performance in an ammonia compressor.
Authors
- Enyuan Hu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1881-4534)
- Kai He (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4666-1800)
- Perla B. Balbuena (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2358-3910)
- Longsheng Cao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2917-6523)
- Xiner Lu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9508-5662)
- David A. Cullen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2593-7866)
- Nico Eidson
- Xiao‐Qing Yang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3625-3478)
- Chunsheng Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8626-6381)
- Dan Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3097-9363)
- Tao Deng (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2674-2577)
- Fernando A. Soto (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0926-071X)
Institutions
- Oak Ridge National Laboratory (US)
- Pennsylvania State University (US)
- Brookhaven National Laboratory (US)
- University of California, Irvine (US)
- Irvine University (US)
- UPMC McKeesport (US)
- University of Maryland, College Park (US)
- Texas A&M University (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Nature Communications
- Published
- 2024-08-23
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-51480-w
- Citations
- 23
- Primary Topic
- Electrocatalysts for Energy Conversion
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 2.35
Funders
- U.S. Department of Energy
- University of Texas at Austin
- Office of Science
- American Chemical Society Petroleum Research Fund
- Oak Ridge National Laboratory
- Brookhaven National Laboratory