The U.S. Department of Energy launched a new catalyst based on nitrogen and carbon to extract hydrogen from hydrogen storage materials. Catalytic dehydrogenation allows reversible hydrogen storage using liquid organic hydrogen carriers (LOHCs). Effective dehydrogenation methods have been developed based on transition metal–based catalysts. However, these catalysts often rely on critical platinum group metals with limited natural abundance and commonly suffer from drawbacks like coking or restricting continuous large-scale application. Sometimes, additives or promoters are used but this leads to the formation of substantial side products rather than dihydrogen. Hence, the U.S. Department of Energy’s Ames Laboratory has launched a new catalyst based on nitrogen and carbon to extract hydrogen from hydrogen storage materials at mild temperatures and under normal atmospheric conditions without using metals or additives. The key to the efficiency of this catalyst is the structure of nitrogen which consists of unique closely placed graphitic nitrogen (CGNs), which are formed during the carbonization process. This nitrogen assembly catalyzes the cleavage of carbon-hydrogen (C‒H) bonds in LOHCs and facilitates the desorption of hydrogen molecules. This process is what makes the catalyst more efficient than other catalysts in use. PTR analysis suggests that this breakthrough would help in overcoming the above-mentioned issues and make accessing stored hydrogen more efficient. Furthermore, this highly-appealing and effective metal-free catalyst would ease the process of dehydrogenation as it is capable of fully releasing molecular hydrogen from LOHCs.
You can reach to news at here