On the nature of spillover hydrogen species on platinum/nitrogen-doped mesoporous carbon composites: A temperature-programmed nitrobenzene desorption study

Abstract Spillover hydrogen species were generated by dissociative H2 adsorption on Pt nanoparticles supported on nitrogen-doped mesoporous carbon. The spillover hydrogen species on the support can migrate back to the Pt nanoparticles and hydrogenate subsequently adsorbed nitrobenzene to aniline at 80 °C, which was detected during temperature-programmed desorption experiments from 80 to 300 °C in pure He. The amount of spillover hydrogen can be tuned mainly by the pre-reduction temperature rather than by other parameters. The absence of aniline formation during nitrobenzene desorption experiments in the presence of CO indicates that hydrogenation occurs exclusively on Pt and that the spillover hydrogen species are present on the carbon support in a chemically inactive state. Most likely, spillover hydrogen is reversibly stored on the carbon support as adsorbed protons on the surface and as electrons in the bulk. These findings provide a new perspective on Pt/C-based hydrogen storage materials and fuel cell catalysts.