A single-Pt-atom-on-Ru-nanoparticle electrocatalyst for CO-resilient methanol oxidation

Poerwoprajitno, Agus R.; Gloag, Lucy; Watt, John Daniel; Cheong, Soshan; Tan, Xin; Lei, Han; Tahini, Hassan A.; Henson, Aaron; Subhash, Bijil; Bedford, Nicholas M.; Miller, Benjamin K.; O’Mara, Peter B.; Benedetti, Tania M.; Huber, Dale L.; Zhang, Wenhua; Smith, Sean C.; Gooding, J. Justin; Schuhmann, Wolfgang; Tilley, Richard D.

doi:10.1038/s41929-022-00756-9

A single-Pt-atom-on-Ru-nanoparticle electrocatalyst for CO-resilient methanol oxidation

Journal Article · Fri Mar 25 00:00:00 UTC 2022 · Nature Catalysis

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41929-022-00756-9· OSTI ID:1968162

^[1]; ^[1]; ^[2]; ^[1]; Tan, Xin ^[3]; Lei, Han ^[4]; Tahini, Hassan A. ^[3]; Henson, Aaron ^[5]; Subhash, Bijil ^[1]; Bedford, Nicholas M. ^[1]; Miller, Benjamin K. ^[6]; O’Mara, Peter B. ^[1]; ^[1]; ^[7]; ^[4]; Smith, Sean C. ^[3]; ^[1]; ^[8]; ^[1]

University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW (Australia)
Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States). Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies (CINT)
Australian National University, Canberra, ACT (Australia)
University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei (China)
University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW (Australia); North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC (United States)
Gatan, Pleasanton, CA (United States)
Sandia National Laboratory (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)
Ruhr-Universität, Bochum (Germany)

Single Pt atom catalysts are key targets because a high exposure of Pt substantially enhances electrocatalytic activity. In addition, PtRu alloy nanoparticles are the most active catalysts for the methanol oxidation reaction. To combine the exceptional activity of single Pt atom catalysts with an active Ru support we must overcome the synthetic challenge of forming single Pt atoms on noble metal nanoparticles. In this report we demonstrate a process that grows and spreads Pt islands on Ru branched nanoparticles to create single-Pt-atom-on-Ru catalysts. By following the spreading process by in situ TEM, we found that the formation of a stable single atom structure is thermodynamically driven by the formation of strong Pt–Ru bonds and the lowering of the surface energy of the Pt islands. The stability of the single-Pt-atom-on-Ru structure and its resilience to CO poisoning result in a high current density and mass activity for the methanol oxidation reaction over time.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States); Sandia National Laboratories (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: Australian Research Council; Discovery Project; German Research Foundation (DFG); LIEF Grant; National Key Research and Development Program; USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA); USDOE Office of Science (SC); University of New South Wales

Grant/Contract Number:: 89233218CNA000001; AC02-06CH11357; NA0003525

OSTI ID:: 1968162

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1866447
OSTI ID: 1867482

Report Number(s):: LA-UR-21-24021

Journal Information:: Nature Catalysis, Journal Name: Nature Catalysis Journal Issue: 3 Vol. 5; ISSN 2520-1158

Publisher:: Springer NatureCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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