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

Panpan Sun, Run Jiang, Zelong Qiao, Shiqing Huang, Shitao Wang and Dapeng Cao ()
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Panpan Sun: Beijing University of Chemical Technology, State Key Laboratory of Organic-Inorganic Composites
Run Jiang: Beijing University of Chemical Technology, State Key Laboratory of Organic-Inorganic Composites
Zelong Qiao: Beijing University of Chemical Technology, State Key Laboratory of Organic-Inorganic Composites
Shiqing Huang: Beijing University of Chemical Technology, State Key Laboratory of Organic-Inorganic Composites
Shitao Wang: Beijing University of Chemical Technology, State Key Laboratory of Organic-Inorganic Composites
Dapeng Cao: Beijing University of Chemical Technology, State Key Laboratory of Organic-Inorganic Composites

Nature Communications, 2025, vol. 16, issue 1, 1-13

Abstract: 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 mgPGM-1@0.65 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.

Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-65273-2

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