Ordered mesoporous carbon spheres assisted Ru nanoclusters/RuO_(2) with redistribution of charge density for efficient CO_(2)methanation in a novel H2/CO_(2)fuel cell

摘要

Efficiently reducing carbon dioxide(CO_(2))into carbon chemicals and fuels is highly desirable due to the rapid growth of atmospheric CO_(2)CO_(2)ncentration.In prior work,we described a unique H/CO_(2)fuel cell driven by low-valued waste heat,which not only CO_(2)nverts CO_(2)to methane(CH_(4))but also outputs electrical energy,yet the CO_(2)reduction rate needs to be urgently improved.Here,a novel Ru-RuOcatalyst with heterostructure was grafted on mesoporous carbon spheres by in situ partially reducing RuOinto ultrasmall Ru clusters(~1 nm),in which heteroatom-doped carbon spheres as a matrix with excellent CO_(2)nductivity and abundant pores can not only easily CO_(2)nfine the formation of Ru nanocluster but also are beneficial to the exposed active sites of Ru CO_(2)mplex and the mass transport.CO_(2)mpared to pure RuOnanoparticles supported on carbon spheres,our CO_(2)mposite catalyst boosts the CO_(2)CO_(2)nversion rate by more than 5-fold,reaching a value of 382.7μmol gcat.h-1at 170℃.Moreover,a decent output power density of 2.92 W mwas obtained from this H2/CO_(2)fuel cell using Ru-RuOembedded carbon spheres as a cathode catalyst.The Ru-RuOheterostructure can modify the adsorption energy of CO_(2)and induce the redistribution of charge density,thus boosting CO_(2)reduction significantly.This work not only offers an efficient catalyst for this novel H_(2)/CO_(2)fuel cell but also presents a facile method to prepare Ru nanoclusters.