Improving oxygen reduction reaction activity and durability of 1.5 nm Pt by addition of ruthenium oxide nanosheets

•Commercial Pt/C was modified with RuO2 nanosheets to improve ORR activity.•RuO2 nanosheet modification affords higher initial ORR activity.•Modified catalysts showed higher ORR durability than as-received catalyst.

The durability of commercial carbon supported Pt nanoparticles with an average particle size of 1.5 nm (20 mass% Pt/C) has been improved by the addition of ruthenium oxide nanosheets (RuO2ns) without sacrificing the initial activity towards oxygen reduction reaction. The initial oxygen reduction reaction activity of the composite catalyst was slightly higher than as-received Pt/C. The electrocatalytic activity after consecutive potential cycling tests of the composite catalyst was c.a. 1.3 times higher than non-modified Pt/C. The increased durability of the composite catalyst is attributed to the improved preservation of the electrochemically active Pt surface area with the addition of ruthenium oxide.

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