Room temperature stable CO _x -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 μmol g^-1 hour^-1 after a 2-day photocatalytic reaction. The CO _x -free H₂ production is attributed to methanol photodecomposition to formaldehyde, photocatalyzed by surface ele

SUBMITTER: Liu Z 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5428556 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature