Improved stability of TiO2 modified Ru85Se15/C electrocatalyst for proton exchange membrane fuel cells

The electrocatalytic stability of the carbon supported Ru85Se15 nanoparticles has been improved by the modification of titanium dioxide for proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs). Transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) measurements and inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP-AES) are applied for characterizing Ru85Se15/C and titanium dioxide modified Ru85Se15/C (Ru85Se15/TiO2/C) electrocatalysts. Electrochemical measurements and single cell tests are conducted for the evaluation of the electrocatalysts. The results indicate that Ru85Se15/TiO2/C electrocatalyst, presenting similar initial oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) activity with Ru85Se15/C, reveals better electrochemical stability. The final potential of Ru85Se15/TiO2/C is 137 mV higher than that of Ru85Se15/C at 2 mA cm−2 after the electrochemical durability test. Moreover, in the single cell stability test Ru85Se15/TiO2/C also shows comparable initial performance with Ru85Se15/C, but better final performance. Therefore, the Ru85Se15/C is expected to be used as an effective cathode electrocatalyst for PEMFCs by TiO2 modification on the carbon support.