Major advances in CO-tolerant electrocatalyst development are necessary to bridge the gap between the world's hydrogen supply and the fuel requirements of low temperature fuel cells. We report here on the first-principles guided synthesis of a new nanoparticle (NP) catalyst comprising a Ru core covered with an approximately monolayer-thick shell of Pt atoms (i.e. a Ru@Pt core-shell NP). In hydrogen feeds contaminated with 1000 ppm CO, the catalytic CO oxidation and hydrogen activation is complete by 30 °C, which is significantly better than traditional PtRu alloys (75 °C) and monometallic mixtures of particles (80 °C) used in current low temperature fuel cells. Density Functional Theory (DFT) studies suggest that the enhanced catalytic activity for the core-shell NP's originates from a lower CO-saturation coverage than on pure Pt, and from a hydrogen-mediated CO oxidation process that is clearly distinct from the traditional bi-functional CO oxidation mechanism.

Extended Abstract Status: Not Uploaded