Promotional effect of upper Ru oxides as methanol tolerant electrocatalyst for the oxygen reduction reaction

The role of Ru on the oxygen reduction reaction in the presence of methanol has been investigated. To this end a series of carbon supported Pt based electrocatalysts containing Ru and Co have been prepared and thoroughly characterized. The catalytic performance on the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) both in the presence and in the absence of methanol by linear sweep voltammetry on rotating disk electrode has been studied. In spite of its documented ability towards methanol and CO oxidation, when Ru-containing catalysts are subjected to excursions to potentials more positive than 0.8 V vs. NHE they develop a certain tolerance to the presence of methanol. This feature is attributed to the formation of upper oxide Ru species that impede the methanol oxidation reaction to occur under the typical reaction conditions of the oxygen reduction process, i.e. potentials more positive than 0.7 V vs. NHE and oxygen saturated atmospheres. The evolution of Ru species with the applied potential has been investigated by XPS, identifying the presence of upper oxidized Ru phases.