Ultra-high-performance core–shell structured Ru@Pt/C catalyst prepared by a facile pulse electrochemical deposition method

Core–shell structured catalysts, made by placing either a monolayer or a thin layer of a noble metal on relatively cheap core-metal nanoparticles, are fascinating and promising fuel cell catalysts due to their high utilization of noble metals. Here, we report our development of a core–shell structured catalyst, Ru@Pt/C, generated by a novel and facile pulse electrochemical deposition (PED) approach. We demonstrate that compared with a commercial Pt/C catalyst, this novel catalyst achieves over four times higher mass activity towards the anodic oxidation of methanol, and 3.6 times higher mass activity towards the cathodic reduction of oxygen. Importantly, we find that the intrinsic activity of Pt in this Ru@Pt/C catalyst is doubled due to the formation of the core–shell structure. The catalyst also shows superior stability: even after 2000 scans, it still retains up to 90% of the peak current. Our findings demonstrate that this novel PED approach is a promising method for preparing high-performance core–shell catalysts for fuel cell applications.