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1. Synthesising strained Pt on metal nanoparticles for enhanced electrocatalytic activity in hydrogen fuel cells

Hydrogen fuel cells are a leading clean energy technology for a sustainable, low-carbon future, but nanocatalysts need to be high-performing while using minimal amounts of scarce, expensive Pt. Controlling how Pt atoms are arranged on the surface of a metal nanoparticle is a promising route to highly active fuel cell catalysts. By directing the growth and spreading of Pt on Ru nanoparticles, we controlled the decoration into Pt islands, small clusters, or strings of just a few atoms, a key fundamental of catalyst design (Figure 1). Strings of Pt on Ru gave the best combination of Pt–Ru and Pt–Pt neighbouring sites, driving both the water dissociation and hydrogen formation steps of the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and more than doubling the turnover frequency compared to Pt islands on Ru, among the most active PtRu HER electrocatalysts reported to date.

In this project, you will decorate nanoparticles with small clusters or strings of Pt atoms for use as high-performance electrocatalysts. By controlling both the position and the local arrangement of Pt atoms on different metal nanoparticle structures, you will optimise electrocatalytic activity and stability to create the most advanced and effective catalysts for hydrogen production and fuel cell energy solutions. You'll gain hands-on experience in nanoparticle synthesis, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, and electrocatalytic testing, core skills for a career in industry or academia. This project is well suited to PhD students and undergraduate (Honours/summer scholarship) interested in clean energy, materials chemistry, or nanotechnology research.

Figure 1. Atomic resolution elemental mapping and transmission electron microscopy images of Pt atomic string on Ru nanoparticles, the unique string arrangement makes them highly active for hydrogen evolution reaction.

2. Controlling Ru–Ni metal-support interactions for electrocatalytic biomass upgrading

Converting biomass-derived molecules into value-added chemicals is an attractive clean energy and green chemistry alternative to the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) in water electrolyzers, often proceeding at a lower potential and unlocking useful products alongside hydrogen production. Oxidation of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF), a biomass-derived platform molecule, to 2,5-furandicarboxylic acid is one such reaction, and Ni-based nanocatalysts are promising electrocatalysts for driving it. We showed that decorating faceted, branched Ni nanoparticles with small, monodispersed Ru islands significantly boosts HMF electro-oxidation activity by maximising the number of atomic-level Ru–Ni interactions at the nanoparticle surface (Figure 2). Using a slow-growth synthetic strategy, the Ru loading could be tuned from 4% to 9% while keeping the Ru islands small (3 to 4 nm), producing a catalyst with the highest activity and excellent stability compared to Ni nanoparticles alone.

In this project, you will synthesise Ru-decorated Ni nanoparticles with controlled island size and loading and investigate how metal-support interactions at the Ru–Ni interface govern the electrocatalytic oxidation of biomass-derived molecules. This work combines nanoparticle synthesis with high-resolution electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and electrochemical testing to build a fundamental understanding of structure–activity relationships in bimetallic electrocatalysts. You'll gain hands-on experience across the full synthesis-to-catalysis pipeline, developing core skills for a career in clean energy, green chemistry, materials chemistry, or nanotechnology research preparing you for a career in industry or academia. This project is well suited to PhD students and undergraduate (Honours/summer scholarship).

Figure 2. Overlaying elemental map and transmission electron microscopic images of the Ru-island-decorated branched Ni nanoparticles, showing with an increase in Ru-Ni interaction the HMF oxidation activity increases.

References

1. Li, Q.; Cheong, S.; Poerwoprajitno, A. R.; Xiang, S.; Frenkel, A. I.; Yang, Y.; Bedford, N. M.; Umer, S.; Lessio, M.; Ohnishi, I.; Ramadhan, Z. R.; Huber, D. L.; Dai, L.; Schuhmann, W.; Gooding, J. J.; Tilley, R. D. How the Arrangement of Platinum Atoms on Ruthenium Nanoparticles Improves Hydrogen Evolution Activity. Adv. Mater. 2025, 37, 2509610.
2. Oluigbo, C. J.; Poerwoprajitno, A. R.; Xie, Y.; Somerville, S. V.; Persson, I.; Ramadhan, Z. R.; Cheong, S.; Dai, L.; Huber, D. L.; Gooding, J. J.; Tilley, R. D. Controlling the Ru Island Decoration on Ni Nanoparticles to Tune the Activity for 5-Hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) Oxidation. Chem. Mater. 2025, 37 (15), 6090–6095.