Electronic structure engineering of ultradispersed Ru in NiO nanobricks for selective and efficient ethanol...

Area of Science:

• Electrochemistry
• Materials Science
• Catalysis

Background:

• Integrating the ethanol oxidation reaction (EOR) into water-splitting systems offers dual benefits: reduced overpotentials and valuable chemical co-generation.
• Designing durable, cost-effective catalysts with high noble-metal atom economy for EOR is challenging.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a highly dispersed Ruthenium-Nickel Oxide (Ru-NiO) electrocatalyst on nickel foam (NF) for efficient ethanol oxidation.
• To investigate the synergistic effects of Ru incorporation into NiO for enhanced catalytic performance and selectivity.

Main Methods:

• Hydrothermal synthesis followed by ion exchange to prepare Ru-NiO/NF electrocatalyst.
• Electrochemical characterization including cyclic voltammetry and chronoamperometry.
• Density Functional Theory (DFT) calculations to elucidate reaction mechanisms.

Main Results:

• The optimized Ru-NiO/NF catalyst achieved high current densities at low potentials in ethanol oxidation.
• Demonstrated excellent acetate selectivity (96.1%) and high Faradaic efficiency (93.8%).
• Ru incorporation modulated electronic structure, accelerated charge transfer, and optimized intermediate adsorption.

Conclusions:

• The Ru-NiO/NF catalyst exhibits superior performance for ethanol oxidation compared to pristine NiO/NF.
• Electronic coupling between Ru and Ni centers is key to lowering kinetic barriers for selective ethanol-to-acetate conversion.
• This work provides insights into designing advanced electrocatalysts for value-added chemical production.