Issue 19, 2020

Influence of the nanoparticle size on hydrogen release and side product formation in liquid organic hydrogen carrier systems with supported platinum catalysts

Abstract

Liquid organic hydrogen carrier (LOHC) systems represent a promising option for hydrogen storage and transport in chemically bound and infrastructure-compatible form. For multiple use of the carrier liquid in repetitive hydrogenation/dehydrogenation cycles, the applied dehydrogenation catalyst has to provide a combination of high productivity and excellent selectivity. In this study, we demonstrate that the catalytic performance of an alumina supported Pt catalyst in the dehydrogenation of perhydro-dibenzyltoluene (H18-DBT) is strongly dependent on the mean Pt nanoparticle size. With reference to the available Pt surface atoms, unmodified Pt nanoparticles have been found to show a maximum in dehydrogenation productivity for Pt particle sizes between 1.95 and 2.70 nm, while the undesired high-boiler formation peaks around 1.5 nm. Furthermore, we show that the exact knowledge of the Pt nanoparticle size makes surface modification with sulphur compounds much more effective. Smaller nanoparticles that exhibit a large share of low-coordinated Pt atoms require a larger amount of sulphur to block the undesired by-product formation caused by these sites. Treated with an optimal amount of sulphur, the maximum Pt-based productivity of the catalyst increases by a factor of 2.8 with a simultaneous reduction of the high-boiler formation by 40%.

Graphical abstract: Influence of the nanoparticle size on hydrogen release and side product formation in liquid organic hydrogen carrier systems with supported platinum catalysts

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
10 Jun 2020
Accepted
05 Aug 2020
First published
18 Aug 2020

Catal. Sci. Technol., 2020,10, 6669-6678

Influence of the nanoparticle size on hydrogen release and side product formation in liquid organic hydrogen carrier systems with supported platinum catalysts

F. Auer, A. Hupfer, A. Bösmann, N. Szesni and P. Wasserscheidpeter, Catal. Sci. Technol., 2020, 10, 6669 DOI: 10.1039/D0CY01173H

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements