Room temperature stable COx-free H2 production from methanol with magnesium oxide nanophotocatalysts
Abstract
Methanol, which contains 12.6 weight percent hydrogen, is a good hydrogen storage medium because it is a liquid at room temperature. However, by releasing the hydrogen, undesirable CO and/or CO2 byproducts are formed during catalytic fuel reforming. We show that alkaline earth metal oxides, in our case MgO nanocrystals, exhibit stable photocatalytic activity for CO/CO2-free H2 production from liquid methanol at room temperature. The performance of MgO nanocrystals toward methanol dehydrogenation increases with time and approaches ~320 mmol g–1 hour–1 after a 2-day photocatalytic reaction. The COx-free H2 production is attributed to methanol photodecomposition to formaldehyde, photocatalyzed by surface electronic states of unique monodispersed, porous MgO nanocrystals, which were synthesized with a novel facile colloidal chemical strategy. In conclusion, an oxygen plasma treatment allows for the removal of organic surfactants, producing MgO nanocrystals that are well dispersible in methanol.
- Authors:
-
- Xi'an Jiaotong Univ., Xi'an (China)
- Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States); Harvard Univ., Cambridge, MA (United States)
- Harvard Univ., Cambridge, MA (United States)
- A*STAR (Agency for Science, Technology and Research) (Singapore)
- Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States)
- Xi'an Jiaotong Univ., Xi'an (China); Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States)
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Harvard Univ., Cambridge, MA (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1466754
- Grant/Contract Number:
- SC0009565
- Resource Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- Science Advances
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 2; Journal Issue: 9; Journal ID: ISSN 2375-2548
- Publisher:
- AAAS
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY; Magnesium oxide; nanophotocatalysts; COx-free H2 production; methanol photodecomposition
Citation Formats
Liu, Zhengqing, Yin, Zongyou, Cox, Casandra, Bosman, Michael, Qian, Xiaofeng, Li, Na, Zhao, Hongyang, Du, Yaping, Li, Ju, and Nocera, Daniel G. Room temperature stable COx-free H2 production from methanol with magnesium oxide nanophotocatalysts. United States: N. p., 2016.
Web. doi:10.1126/sciadv.1501425.
Liu, Zhengqing, Yin, Zongyou, Cox, Casandra, Bosman, Michael, Qian, Xiaofeng, Li, Na, Zhao, Hongyang, Du, Yaping, Li, Ju, & Nocera, Daniel G. Room temperature stable COx-free H2 production from methanol with magnesium oxide nanophotocatalysts. United States. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.1501425
Liu, Zhengqing, Yin, Zongyou, Cox, Casandra, Bosman, Michael, Qian, Xiaofeng, Li, Na, Zhao, Hongyang, Du, Yaping, Li, Ju, and Nocera, Daniel G. Fri .
"Room temperature stable COx-free H2 production from methanol with magnesium oxide nanophotocatalysts". United States. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.1501425. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1466754.
@article{osti_1466754,
title = {Room temperature stable COx-free H2 production from methanol with magnesium oxide nanophotocatalysts},
author = {Liu, Zhengqing and Yin, Zongyou and Cox, Casandra and Bosman, Michael and Qian, Xiaofeng and Li, Na and Zhao, Hongyang and Du, Yaping and Li, Ju and Nocera, Daniel G.},
abstractNote = {Methanol, which contains 12.6 weight percent hydrogen, is a good hydrogen storage medium because it is a liquid at room temperature. However, by releasing the hydrogen, undesirable CO and/or CO2 byproducts are formed during catalytic fuel reforming. We show that alkaline earth metal oxides, in our case MgO nanocrystals, exhibit stable photocatalytic activity for CO/CO2-free H2 production from liquid methanol at room temperature. The performance of MgO nanocrystals toward methanol dehydrogenation increases with time and approaches ~320 mmol g–1 hour–1 after a 2-day photocatalytic reaction. The COx-free H2 production is attributed to methanol photodecomposition to formaldehyde, photocatalyzed by surface electronic states of unique monodispersed, porous MgO nanocrystals, which were synthesized with a novel facile colloidal chemical strategy. In conclusion, an oxygen plasma treatment allows for the removal of organic surfactants, producing MgO nanocrystals that are well dispersible in methanol.},
doi = {10.1126/sciadv.1501425},
journal = {Science Advances},
number = 9,
volume = 2,
place = {United States},
year = {Fri Sep 02 00:00:00 EDT 2016},
month = {Fri Sep 02 00:00:00 EDT 2016}
}
Web of Science
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