[Paper Award] Ru‑MnO Heterojunction Clusters for Efficient Co‑Tolerant Alkaline Hydrogen Oxidation Reaction

Against the backdrop of carbon peaking and carbon‑neutrality goals, China has accelerated its energy‑transition process. Alkaline fuel‑cell technology, which uses hydrogen and oxygen as fuels, has attracted widespread attention. The cost, performance and service life of catalysts remain major challenges hindering the large‑scale deployment of fuel cells.

Recently, the research group led by Professor Weilin Xu from the Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, has published a paper in Advanced Energy Materials (JCR Q1, Impact Factor: 24.4). The title of this work is Ru‑MnO Heterostructure Clusters Toward Efficient and CO‑Tolerant Alkaline Hydrogen Oxidation Reaction.

In this study, a Ru‑MnO heterostructure with two adjacent clusters supported on commercial carbon (BP2000), denoted as Ru‑MnO/C, was rationally designed to accelerate the sluggish kinetics of the alkaline hydrogen oxidation reaction (HOR). At the cluster‑on‑cluster heterostructure interface, electron transfer from Ru to MnO modulates the electronic configuration of Ru sites and optimizes intermediate adsorption on ruthenium.

Experimental results demonstrate that the as‑prepared catalyst delivers outstanding HOR catalytic activity in alkaline electrolyte, achieving a high exchange‑current density of 3.71 mA cm⁻² and a mass activity of 0.78 A mg_Ru⁻¹. When tested under H₂/O₂ conditions in an anion‑exchange‑membrane fuel cell, a peak power density (PPD) of 7.0 W mg_Ru⁻¹ was obtained, outperforming most reported catalysts. More notably, the catalyst exhibits remarkable long‑term stability and excellent CO tolerance.

This research fully highlights the advantages of cluster‑cluster heterointerfaces for high‑efficiency HOR catalysis and provides meaningful guidance for the structural design of next‑generation catalysts.