Ir-based electrocatalysts for facile ethanol oxidation reaction: effect of support, loading, and alloying with Ru.
- 1Department of Biological, Chemical and Global Health Sciences, School of Sciences and Engineering, The American University in Cairo New Cairo 11835 Egypt [email protected].
- 2Physical Chemistry Department, National Research Centre Dokki Giza 12622 Egypt.
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.
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BibTeX
@article{soliman2026irbased,
title = {{Ir-based electrocatalysts for facile ethanol oxidation reaction: effect of support, loading, and alloying with Ru.}},
author = {Alaa Soliman and Ahmed S S Elsayed and Shaimaa E Abd El Hamid and Hany A El-Sayed and Ehab N El Sawy},
journal = {RSC advances},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1039/d6ra04858g},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42846925},
note = {CC BY-NC},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Ir-based electrocatalysts for facile ethanol oxidation reaction: effect of support, loading, and alloying with Ru.
AU - Alaa Soliman
AU - Ahmed S S Elsayed
AU - Shaimaa E Abd El Hamid
AU - Hany A El-Sayed
AU - Ehab N El Sawy
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/07
JO - RSC advances
DO - 10.1039/d6ra04858g
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42846925
AB - 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.
SN - 2046-2069
ER -