Low-temperature hydrogen production from water and methanol using Pt/α-MoC catalysts.
Polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) running on hydrogen are attractive alternative power supplies for a range of applications, with in situ release of the required hydrogen from a stable liquid offering one way of ensuring its safe storage and transportation before use. The use of methanol is particularly interesting in this regard, because it is inexpensive and can reform itself with water to release hydrogen with a high gravimetric density of 18.8 per cent by weight. But traditional reforming of methanol steam operates at relatively high temperatures (200-350 degrees Celsius), so the focus for vehicle and portable PEMFC applications has been on aqueous-phase reforming of methanol (APRM). This method requires less energy, and the simpler and more compact device design allows direct integration into PEMFC stacks. There remains, however, the need for an efficient APRM catalyst. Here we report that platinum (Pt) atomically dispersed on α-molybdenum carbide (α-MoC) enables low-temperature (150-190 degrees Celsius), base-free hydrogen production through APRM, with an average turnover frequency reaching 18,046 moles of hydrogen per mole of platinum per hour. We attribute this exceptional hydrogen production-which far exceeds that of previously reported low-temperature APRM catalysts-to the outstanding ability of α-MoC to induce water dissociation, and to the fact that platinum and α-MoC act in synergy to activate methanol and then to reform it.
College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China.
Lili
L
Lin
School of Physical Sciences, CAS Key Laboratory of Vacuum Physics, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.|Materials Science and Technology Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831, USA.
Wu
W
Zhou
State Key Laboratory of Coal Conversion, Institute of Coal Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, PO Box 165, Taiyuan, Shanxi 030001, China.|Synfuels China Co. Ltd, Beijing 100195, China.
Rui
R
Gao
College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China.
Siyu
S
Yao
Key Laboratory of Industrial Ecology and Environmental Engineering (MOE), Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116024, China.
Xiao
X
Zhang
X-ray Science Division, Advanced Photon Source, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, Illinois 60439, USA.
Wenqian
W
Xu
Shenyang National Laboratory for Materials Science, Institute of Metal Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang 110016, China.
Shijian
S
Zheng
Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, 201204, China.
Zheng
Z
Jiang
College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China.
Qiaolin
Q
Yu
State Key Laboratory of Coal Conversion, Institute of Coal Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, PO Box 165, Taiyuan, Shanxi 030001, China.|Synfuels China Co. Ltd, Beijing 100195, China.
Yong-Wang
YW
Li
Key Laboratory of Industrial Ecology and Environmental Engineering (MOE), Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116024, China.
Chuan
C
Shi
State Key Laboratory of Coal Conversion, Institute of Coal Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, PO Box 165, Taiyuan, Shanxi 030001, China.|Synfuels China Co. Ltd, Beijing 100195, China.
Xiao-Dong
XD
Wen
College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China.
Ding
D
Ma