Recent progress in molecular transition metal catalysts for hydrogen production from methanol and formaldehyde
Jayashree Parthiban1, Mahendra K Awasthi1, Tushar A Kharde1
1Catalysis Group, Department of Chemistry, Indian Institute of Technology Indore, Simrol, Indore 453552, Madhya Pradesh, India. sksingh@iiti.ac.in.
Abstract:
Hydrogen is considered as a potential alternative and sustainable energy carrier, but its safe storage and transportation are still challenging due to its low volumetric energy density. Notably, C1-based substrates, methanol and formaldehyde, containing high hydrogen contents of 12.5 wt% and 6.7 wt%, respectively, can release hydrogen on demand in the presence of a suitable catalyst. Advantageously, both methanol and aqueous formaldehyde are liquid at room temperature, and hence can be stored and transported considerably more safely than hydrogen gas. Moreover, these C1-based substrates can be produced from biomass waste and can also be regenerated from CO2, a greenhouse gas. In this review, the recent progress in hydrogen production from methanol and formaldehyde over noble to non-noble metal complex-based molecular transition metal catalysts is extensively reviewed. This review also focuses on the critical role of the structure-activity relationship of the catalyst in the dehydrogenation pathway.
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