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Title: 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:
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [4];  [5];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [6];  [3]
  1. Xi'an Jiaotong Univ., Xi'an (China)
  2. Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States); Harvard Univ., Cambridge, MA (United States)
  3. Harvard Univ., Cambridge, MA (United States)
  4. A*STAR (Agency for Science, Technology and Research) (Singapore)
  5. Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States)
  6. 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}
}

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