Highly Stable and Methanol Tolerant RuTe2/C Electrocatalysts in Alkaline Media

Abstract

The carbon supported ruthenium tellurium (RuTe2/C) nanoparticles were prepared through a simple microwave polyol method and heat treatment at 350 ℃. Effects of Ru/Te molar ratio on the crystal structure, surface morphology, microstructure, electro-catalytic activity and stability, as well as methanol tolerance in an alkaline solution, were systematically investigated. The orthorhombic RuTe2 and hexagonal Ru were identified as the main phases. The catalyst nanoparticles were uniformly dispersed on the carbon support and the average particle size ranged 5.0~8.6 nm. The RuTe2/C catalyst prepared with Ru/Te=1:1 exhibited the best activity toward oxygen reduction reaction. The half-wave potential (E1/2) of 0.74 V with the electron transfer number of 3.7 was achieved in 0.1 mol·L-1 KOH solution. The E1/2 values decreased by 7 mV after 1000 potential cycles test in 0.1 mol·L-1 KOH, while remained unchanged in 0.1 mol·L-1 KOH containing 2 mol·L-1 methanol solutions, suggesting the excellent stability and methanol tolerance.