Anion exchange membrane fuel cells (AEMFCs) are promising alternative hydrogen conversion devices. However, the sluggish kinetics of the hydrogen oxidation reaction (HOR) in alkaline media hinders the further development of AEMFCs. This thesis explores four Rubased electrocatalysts to enhance the electrocatalytic performance of noble metals for HOR in alkaline media. Sub-3 nm Pt@Ru core-shell nanoparticles are synthesized using a simple impregnation process. The resulting electrocatalyst exhibits significantly higher activity than commercial Pt/C and PtRu/C, highlighting the core-shell nanostructures and the small particle size for improving electrocatalytic performance. A PtRu catalyst with uniform particle size and spatial distribution is synthesized owing to a NiNC support. The resul...[ Read more ]

Anion exchange membrane fuel cells (AEMFCs) are promising alternative hydrogen conversion devices. However, the sluggish kinetics of the hydrogen oxidation reaction (HOR) in alkaline media hinders the further development of AEMFCs. This thesis explores four Rubased electrocatalysts to enhance the electrocatalytic performance of noble metals for HOR in alkaline media. Sub-3 nm Pt@Ru core-shell nanoparticles are synthesized using a simple impregnation process. The resulting electrocatalyst exhibits significantly higher activity than commercial Pt/C and PtRu/C, highlighting the core-shell nanostructures and the small particle size for improving electrocatalytic performance. A PtRu catalyst with uniform particle size and spatial distribution is synthesized owing to a NiNC support. The resulting NiNC-supported PtRu exhibits better HOR activity and stability than PtRu/C, indicating the importance of metal-support interaction and uniformly distributed particles. TiC is used as a support material to enhance the HOR activity of Ru. The surface oxide layer (TiO_2-x) of TiC plays a crucial role in regulating the catalytic activity of Ru/TiC due to the tunable valence state of Ti. This work highlights the importance of considering the role of surface oxide layers when investigating metal carbides/nitrides as support materials. Finally, a strategy based on metal-organic framework (MOF) is developed to anchor atomically-dispersed Ti in an NC matrix. The resulting Ru/Ti-NC exhibits significantly higher activity than Pt/C, as well as better HOR durability. The enhanced activity is attributed to the synergy between Ru and atomically dispersed Ti. This thesis provides valuable insights into the design of high-performance HOR electrocatalysts and a novel perspective to understand the structure-activity relationship at the atomic scale.