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Updated: Jun 2, 2025
Hydrogen Production and Utilization in a Membrane Reactor
Published on: March 10, 2023
Methanol-Enhanced Low-Cell-Voltage Hydrogen Generation at Industrial-Grade Current Density by Triadic Active Sites of
An Pei1, Ruikuan Xie2, Lihua Zhu1,3
1Jiangxi Province Key Laboratory of Functional Crystalline Materials Chemistry, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Materials Metallurgy and Chemistry, Jiangxi University of Science and Technology, Ganzhou 341000, Jiang Xi, China.
Abstract:
Methanol (ME) is a liquid hydrogen carrier, ideal for on-site-on-demand H2 generation, avoiding its costly and risky distribution issues, but this "ME-to-H2" electric conversion suffers from high voltage (energy consumption) and competitive oxygen evolution reaction. Herein, we demonstrate that a synergistic cofunctional Pt1Pd/(Ni,Co)(OH) catalyst with Pt single atoms (Pt1) and Pd nanoclusters (Pd) anchored on OH-vacancy(VOH)-rich (Ni,Co)(OH) nanoparticles create synergistic triadic active sites, allowing for methanol-enhanced low-voltage H2 generation. For MOR, OH* is preferentially adsorbed on Pd and then interacts with the intermediates (such as *CHO or *CHOOH) adsorbed favorably on neighboring Pt1 with the assistance of hydrogen bonding from the surface hydrogen of (Ni,Co)(OH). The enhanced selectivity of the *CHOOH pathway, instead of *CO, sustains the MOR activity to a practically high current density. For HER, triadic Pt1, Pd, and OH-vacancy sites on (Ni,Co)(OH) create an "acid-base" microenvironment to facilitate water adsorption and splitting, forming H* species on Pt1 and Pd, and *OH at the vacancy, to promote efficient H2 evolution from the asymmetric Pt1 and Pd sites via the Tafel mechanism. The triadic-site synergy opens new avenues for the design and synthesis of highly efficient and stable cofunctional catalysts for "on-site-on-demand" H2 production, here facilitated by liquid methanol.
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