WO2.72-modulated Ru cluster boosting dual-site adsorption for efficient and CO-resistant anion exchange membrane fuel cells

A dual-site synergistic catalytic mechanism is proposed to optimize the OHad binding energy (OHBE) by constructing ultrafine Ru nanoclusters modified with highly oxygenophilic WO 2.72 clusters in nitrogen-doped carbon carriers, which can optimize the adsorptions of OH ad and active hydrogen species, respectively, resulting in a marked increase in hydrogen oxidation reaction (HOR) activity. The constructed Ru-WO 2.72 -NC shows a HOR mass activity about 8 times that of Pt-C, and the corresponding alkaline exchange membrane fuel cells demonstrate rather higher peak power densities than Ru-NC with 1.193 W cm –2 and more than 1 W cm –2 in H₂ fuel and CO/H 2 mixtures, respectively. The excellent alkaline HOR performance of Ru-WO 2.72 -NC is attributed to the adsorption of OH ad species by WO 2.72 clusters, which synergizes with the adsorption and dissociation of hydrogen on Ru to facilitate the Volmer step. The success in constructing dual-site synergistic catalysis of Ru-WO 2.72 -NC anode provides valuable insight and new guidelines for designing and studying high-activity alkaline HOR catalysts.