Oxygen reduction and hydrogen oxidation reactions on Ru-Fe electrocatalyst synthesized by a microwave-assisted synthesis

Abstract

In this work, the oxygen reduction reaction in the absence or presence of 2.0 mol l-1 methanol and the hydrogen oxidation reaction are studied on RuFe electrocatalyst synthesized by a microwave thermal heating method in water as reaction medium. The electrocatalysts were morphologically and structurally typified by scanning electron microscopy and by x-ray diffraction, respectively. Three crystalline phases were found: Ru, Fe2O3 and Fe(OH)3•(H2O)x (Bernalite). Functional tests were performed by convective (rotating disk electrode) and non-convective (linear sweep voltammetry and cyclic voltammetry) electrochemical techniques in 0.5 mol l-1 H2SO4. Both RuFe electrocatalysts show interesting electrochemical activities since they can carry out both the oxygen reduction reaction and the hydrogen oxidation reaction.