Ruthenium Nanoparticles Decorated Tungsten Oxide as a Bifunctional Catalyst for Electrocatalytic and Catalytic Applications.

The syntheses of highly stable ruthenium nanoparticles supported on tungsten oxides (Ru-WO3) bifunctional nanocomposites by means of a facial microwave-assisted route are reported. The physicochemical properties of these Ru-WO3 catalysts with varied Ru contents were characterized by a variety of analytical and spectroscopic methods such as XRD, SEM/TEM, EDX, XPS, N2 physisorption, TGA, UV-vis, and FT-IR. The Ru-WO3 nanocomposite catalysts so prepared were utilized for electrocatalytic of hydrazine (N2H4) and catalytic oxidation of diphenyl sulfide (DPS). The Ru-WO3-modified electrodes were found to show extraordinary electrochemical performances for sensitive and selective detection of N2H4 with a desirable wide linear range of 0.7-709.2 μM and a detection limit and sensitivity of 0.3625 μM and 4.357 μA μM-1 cm-2, respectively, surpassing other modified electrodes. The modified GCEs were also found to have desirable selectivity, stability, and reproducibility as N2H4 sensors, even for analyses of real samples. This is ascribed to the well-dispersed metallic Ru NPs on the WO3 support, as revealed by UV-vis and photoluminescence studies. Moreover, these Ru-WO3 bifunctional catalysts were also found to exhibit excellent catalytic activities for oxidation of DPS in the presence of H2O2 oxidant with desirable sulfoxide yields.