Work

Strong metal-support interaction of Ru-NPs/WCx boosts alkaline hydrogen evolution and oxidation for alkaline fuel cells and electrolyzers

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: Developing Pt-free catalysts for alkaline hydrogen oxidation reaction (HOR) for anion-exchange membrane fuel cells (AEMFCs) is still a big problem. Herein, we report a WCx supported Ru nanoparticles (Ru-NPs/WCx) electrocatalyst. The Ru-NPs/WCx-based H2-air AEMFC not only delivers in the mass activity (MA) (3.13 [email protected] V) and specific peak power density (2.55 W mgPGM-1) at low total metal loadings, but also exhibits more than 210 h durability. Besides, the Ru-NPs/WCx-based AEMWE only needs 1.73 V to reach an industrial current density of 1 A cm-2. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations uncover that the strong interaction of Ru-NPs and WCx support results in the electron-deficient state of Ru-NPs, which simultaneously optimizes the adsorption of intermediates, thus enhancing both HOR and hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) performances. In short, designing the support with strong interaction with metal can contribute to the development of durable alkaline HOR electrocatalysts. High-performance anion exchange membrane fuel cells and electrolyzers relay on Pt based catalysts. Here, the authors design WCx supported Ru nanoparticles as electrocatalyst with strong metal-support interaction for efficient alkaline hydrogen oxidation and evolution.

Source: Nature Communications

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-65273-2

Authors: Panpan Sun, Run Jiang, Zelong Qiao, Shiqing Huang, Shitao Wang, Dapeng Cao

Institution: Beijing University of Chemical Technology

Language: English

Topic: Electrocatalysts for Energy Conversion

Subfield: Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment

Field: Energy

Domain: Physical Sciences

SDG: Affordable and clean energy

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $6,990