{
  "abstract": "Direct ethanol fuel cells (DEFCs) offer a compelling pathway for sustainable energy conversion, yet sluggish kinetics and severe surface poisoning of conventional platinum-based anode catalysts hinder their practical adoption. Here, we present a systematic investigation of iridium-based electrocatalysts for the ethanol oxidation reaction (EOR) in acidic media, deconvoluting the independent and cooperative contributions of support identity, metal loading, and Ru alloying within a unified experimental framework. Structural and surface characterization by XRD, TEM, FT-IR, and XPS confirmed successful catalyst synthesis. It revealed systematic changes in the electronic environment of Ir upon support substitution and Ru alloying. ATO-supported Ir exhibited lower EOR activity than Ir/C, while increasing the Ir loading to 17-33 wt% partially recovered the catalytic performance. Ru alloying on carbon produced the strongest enhancement in the low-potential region, shifting the EOR onset potential to ∼0.08 V vs. RHE and delivering ∼25-30 A gIr ⁻¹ at 0.1 V. Benchmarked against commercial Pt, all Ir-based catalysts exhibit onset potentials 300-400 mV earlier and peak potentials 150-200 mV lower than Pt. These results establish electronic, geometric, and bifunctional descriptors as an integrated design strategy for next-generation DEFC anode catalysts, positioning IrRu/C as the superior candidate among the series investigated.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "Department of Biological, Chemical and Global Health Sciences, School of Sciences and Engineering, The American University in Cairo New Cairo 11835 Egypt ehab.elsawy@aucegypt.edu.",
    "Physical Chemistry Department, National Research Centre Dokki Giza 12622 Egypt."
  ],
  "article_type": "research article",
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 5,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Alaa Soliman"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Ahmed S S Elsayed"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        1
      ],
      "name": "Shaimaa E Abd El Hamid",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-0359-1729"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Hany A El-Sayed"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Ehab N El Sawy",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-5046-6963"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/9pk5y60y806bf.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.1039/d6ra04858g",
  "fulltext_url": "https://europepmc.org/articles/PMC13644396",
  "id": "9pk5y60y806bf",
  "issns": [
    "2046-2069"
  ],
  "landing_url": "https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42846925",
  "language": "eng",
  "licence": "CC-BY-NC",
  "licence_label": "CC BY-NC",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "openalex",
      "2105|Electrocatalysts for Energy Conversion"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7220848264",
  "pdf_url": "https://europepmc.org/articles/PMC13644396?pdf=render",
  "pmcid": "PMC13644396",
  "pmid": "42846925",
  "published": "2026-10-07",
  "publisher": null,
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/9pk5y60y806bf.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:18:02Z",
      "native_id": "MED:42846925",
      "source": "europepmc",
      "url": "https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42846925"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "chemistry",
      "origin": "openalex:2105|Electrocatalysts for Energy Conversion",
      "subfield": "electrochemistry-energy"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Ir-based electrocatalysts for facile ethanol oxidation reaction: effect of support, loading, and alloying with Ru.",
  "title_text": "Ir-based electrocatalysts for facile ethanol oxidation reaction: effect of support, loading, and alloying with Ru.",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:18:02Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/9pk5y60y806bf",
  "venue": "RSC advances",
  "versions": []
}