Authors: Xiaojuan Zhang, Chunchang Wang, Wenjun Cao, Qingqing Zhu, Chao Cheng, Jun Zheng, Haijuan Zhang, Youming Guo, Shouguo Huang, Yi Yu, Binghui Ge, Dongsheng Song, Yameng Fan, Zhenxiang Cheng
Published: 2025-03-19
Source: Full article
AbstractThe hydrogen oxidation reaction (HOR) in alkaline media is pivotal for the advancement of anion exchange membrane fuel cells (AEMFCs), and the development of single‐atom catalysts offers a promising solution for creating cost‐effective, highly efficient HOR catalysts. Although the transition from nanoparticle to single‐atom catalysts enhances catalytic activity, the stability of these single‐atom sites remains a significant challenge. In this study, a highly active and stable alkaline HOR catalyst is successfully designed by incorporating Ru atoms into ZrO2‐x/C nanoparticles, forming the single atoms catalyst Ru‐SA‐ZrO2‐x/C. The catalyst exhibits an outstanding mass activity of 6789.4 mA mgRu−1 at 50 mV, surpassing the Ru/C catalyst by 67 fold and the commercial Pt/C catalyst by 42.5 fold. Density functional theory (DFT) simulations reveal that the integration of Ru atoms into ZrO2‐x/C optimizes both the hydrogen bonding energy (HBE) and hydroxyl binding energy (OHBE), reducing the toxicity of Ru sites. This research opens a new pathway for the precise design of single‐atom and metal nanoparticle hybrids, offering a promising direction for developing highly active electrocatalysts for alkaline HOR applications.