Ruthenium(IV) oxide is the

inorganic compound In chemistry, an inorganic compound is typically a chemical compound that lacks carbon–hydrogen bonds, that is, a compound that is not an organic compound. The study of inorganic compounds is a subfield of chemistry known as '' inorganic chemist ...

with the formula Ru O₂. This black solid is the most common oxide of

ruthenium Ruthenium is a chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ru and atomic number 44. It is a rare transition metal belonging to the platinum group of the periodic table. Like the other metals of the platinum group, ruthenium is inert to ...

. It is widely used as an

electrocatalyst An electrocatalyst is a catalyst that participates in electrochemical reactions. Electrocatalysts are a specific form of catalysts that function at electrode surfaces or, most commonly, may be the electrode surface itself. An electrocatalyst ...

for producing chlorine, chlorine oxides, and O₂. Like many dioxides, RuO₂ adopts the

rutile Rutile is an oxide mineral composed of titanium dioxide (TiO2), the most common natural form of TiO2. Rarer Polymorphism (materials science), polymorphs of TiO2 are known, including anatase, akaogiite, and brookite. Rutile has one of the highest ...

structure.

Preparation

It is usually prepared by oxidation of

ruthenium trichloride Ruthenium(III) chloride is the chemical compound with the formula RuCl3. "Ruthenium(III) chloride" more commonly refers to the hydrate RuCl3·''x''H2O. Both the anhydrous and hydrated species are dark brown or black solids. The hydrate, with a va ...

. Nearly stoichiometric single crystals of RuO₂ can be obtained by

chemical vapor transport In chemistry, a chemical transport reaction describes a process for purification and crystallization of non- volatile solids. The process is also responsible for certain aspects of mineral growth from the effluent of volcanoes. The technique is ...

, using O₂ as the transport agent: :RuO₂ + O₂ RuO₄ Films of RuO₂ can be prepared by

chemical vapor deposition Chemical vapor deposition (CVD) is a vacuum deposition method used to produce high quality, and high-performance, solid materials. The process is often used in the semiconductor industry to produce thin films. In typical CVD, the wafer (substra ...

(CVD) from volatile ruthenium compounds. RuO₂ can also be prepared through

electroplating Electroplating, also known as electrochemical deposition or electrodeposition, is a process for producing a metal coating on a solid substrate through the reduction of cations of that metal by means of a direct electric current. The part to be ...

from a solution of ruthenium trichloride. Electrostatically stabilized hydrosols of pristine ruthenium dioxide hydrate have been prepared by exploiting the autocatalytic reduction of ruthenium tetroxide in aqueous solution. The resulting particle populations may be controlled to comprise substantially monodisperse, uniform spheres with diameters in the range 40nm - 160nm.

Uses

Ruthenium (IV) oxide is being used as the main component in the catalyst of the Sumitomo-

Deacon process The Deacon process, invented by Henry Deacon, is a process used during the manufacture of alkalis (the initial end product was sodium carbonate) by the Leblanc process. Hydrogen chloride gas was converted to chlorine gas, which was then used ...

which produces

chlorine Chlorine is a chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol Cl and atomic number 17. The second-lightest of the halogens, it appears between fluorine and bromine in the periodic table and its properties are mostly intermediate betwee ...

by the oxidation of

hydrogen chloride The compound hydrogen chloride has the chemical formula and as such is a hydrogen halide. At room temperature, it is a colourless gas, which forms white fumes of hydrochloric acid upon contact with atmospheric water vapor. Hydrogen chloride ga ...

. RuO₂ can be used as catalyst in many other situations. Noteworthy reactions are the

Fischer–Tropsch process The Fischer–Tropsch process is a collection of chemical reactions that converts a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen, known as syngas, into liquid hydrocarbons. These reactions occur in the presence of metal catalysts, typically at temperat ...

Haber–Bosch process The Haber process, also called the Haber–Bosch process, is an artificial nitrogen fixation process and is the main industrial procedure for the production of ammonia today. It is named after its inventors, the German chemists Fritz Haber and C ...

, and various manifestations of

fuel cells A fuel cell is an electrochemical cell that converts the chemical energy of a fuel (often hydrogen fuel, hydrogen) and an oxidizing agent (often oxygen) into electricity through a pair of redox reactions. Fuel cells are different from most bat ...

Potential and niche applications

RuO₂ is extensively used for the coating of titanium anodes for the electrolytic production of chlorine and for the preparation of

resistors A resistor is a passive two-terminal electrical component that implements electrical resistance as a circuit element. In electronic circuits, resistors are used to reduce current flow, adjust signal levels, to divide voltages, bias active el ...

integrated circuits An integrated circuit or monolithic integrated circuit (also referred to as an IC, a chip, or a microchip) is a set of electronic circuits on one small flat piece (or "chip") of semiconductor material, usually silicon. Large numbers of tiny ...

. Ruthenium oxide resistors can be used as sensitive thermometers in the temperature range .02 < T < 4 K. It can be also used as active material in supercapacitor because it has very high charge transfer capability. Ruthenium oxide has great capacity to store charge when used in aqueous solutions. Average capacities of ruthenium(IV) oxide have reached 650 F/g when in H₂SO₄ solution and annealed at temperatures lower than 200 °C.Kim,Il-Hwan; Kim, Kwang-Bum; ''Electrochem. Solid-State Lett.,'' 2001, ''4'', 5,A62-A64 In attempts to optimise its capacitive properties, prior work has looked at the hydration of ruthenium oxide, its crystallinity and particle size.

References

External links

Los Alamos National Laboratory – Ruthenium
{{Ruthenium compounds Ruthenium(IV) compounds Transition metal oxides