Novel synthesis of a highly active carbon-supported Ru85Se15 chalcogenide catalyst for the oxygen reduction reaction

Abstract A carbon-supported Ru 85 Se 15 chalcogenide catalyst was synthesized via a microwave-assisted polyol process using RuCl 3 and Na 2 SeO 3 as the Ru and Se precursors. The Ru 85 Se 15 chalcogenide catalyst was characterized by powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and inductively-coupled plasma-atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP-AES). The XRD pattern for Ru 85 Se 15 /C clearly exhibited the characteristic reflections of metallic ruthenium. The TEM image indicated that the Ru 85 Se 15 chalcogenide catalyst was well dispersed on the surface of the carbon support with a narrow particle size distribution. Rotating disk electrode (RDE) and single-cell measurements were carried out to evaluate the electrocatalytic activity of the Ru 85 Se 15 chalcogenide catalyst. The oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) activity of the Ru 85 Se 15 /C catalyst was compared with the commercial Pt/C catalyst with the absence/presence of methanol. In the absence of methanol, the Ru 85 Se 15 /C catalyst showed a comparable ORR activity with the Pt/C catalyst. However, in the presence of methanol, the Ru 85 Se 15 /C catalyst showed a better ORR activity than the Pt/C catalyst. The performance of the membrane electrode assembly (MEA) prepared with Ru 85 Se 15 /C as the cathode catalyst in a single proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) showed the maximum power density of 400 mW cm −2 at the current density of 1300 mA cm −2 .