Selva-Ochoa Ángela, Su-Gallegos Javier, Sebastian Pathiyammattom Joseph, Magallón-Cacho Lorena, Borja-Arco Edgar
Department of Theoretical Physics and Chemistry, Faculty of Chemistry, National Autonomous University of Mexico, Mexico City 04510, Mexico.
Renewable Energy Institute, National Autonomous University of Mexico, Cuernavaca 62580, Mexico.
Materials (Basel). 2021 Sep 30;14(19):5692. doi: 10.3390/ma14195692.
This work presents an OsRu-based electrocatalyst synthesis, by a rapid and efficient method through microwave irradiation. The outstanding electrocatalyst shows a dual catalytic activity, demonstrating both: hydrogen oxidation and oxygen reduction reactions. The material is structural and morphologically characterized by FT-IR, X-ray diffraction, EDS, and SEM, indicating nanoparticulated Os and Ru metallic phases with a crystallite size of ∼6 nm, calculated by the Scherrer equation. The metal nanoparticles are apparently deposited on a carbonaceous sponge-like morphology structure. Its electrochemical characterization is performed in 0.5 M HSO by the rotating disk electrode technique, employing cyclic and linear sweep voltammetry. Two different ink treatments have been studied to improve the obtained polarization curves. The material is also tested in the presence of methanol for the oxygen reduction reaction, showing an important resistance to this contaminant, making it viable for its use in direct methanol fuel cells (DMFCs) as a cathode and in polymer electrolyte fuel cells (PEMFCs) as an anode as much as a cathode.
