A high-capacity, CO-tolerant hydrogen getter enabled by a Ru-based oxide barrier layer

The accumulation of hydrogen in confined environments presents significant safety hazards, highlighting the need for efficient hydrogen getters. Although the PtRu/CNFs-DEB hydrogen getter facilitates the synergistic hydrogenation of both alkynyl and phenyl groups in DEB under mild conditions, its effectiveness is substantially diminished by trace amounts of carbon monoxide (CO), which strongly adsorbs onto Pt active sites. This study introduces a Ru-based oxide barrier layer (RuO 2 ) onto PtRu/CNFs to construct a PtRu-RuO 2 /CNFs composite catalyst. The incorporation of the oxide layer increases the specific surface area from 19.73 to 122.43 m²/g, promotes electron transfer from RuO 2 to Pt, and induces a downshift in the Pt d -band center, consequently reducing the CO adsorption energy. In a H 2 atmosphere containing 500 ppm CO, the PtRu-RuO 2 /CNFs catalyst achieves 85.2% conversion of the alkynyl groups and 21.5% conversion of the phenyl groups in DEB after 10 h. In a 100-hour durability test, it maintains a hydrogen uptake capacity of 600 mL/g — 1.75 times higher than that of PtRu/CNFs — and removes 70% of ambient H 2 . Notably, this newly developed catalyst exhibits broad substrate compatibility, effectively facilitating the transformation of not only DEB but also a diverse array of other aromatic compounds—thereby underscoring its robust catalytic versatility. This study demonstrates that the oxide barrier strategy significantly enhances CO tolerance, hydrogenation efficiency, and long-term stability, providing a promising pathway toward high-performance hydrogen getters for practical applications.