A highly active and stable Pd/MoC catalyst for hydrogen production from methanol decomposition

Methanol decomposition is a promising method to produce clean hydrogen fuel. However, it requires developing highly active and stable catalysts at low temperature. Herein, a series of Pd/MoC catalysts were prepared and evaluated for hydrogen production from methanol decomposition. Detailed characterization data indicated that more α-MoC1−x phase and highly dispersed Pd particles were obtained in Pd/MoC catalysts with lower Pd loading, which exhibited superior catalytic efficiency for hydrogen production. Specifically, the catalytic activity of 0.5Pd/MoC catalyst, whose average turnover frequency reached up to 807 molH2·molPd−1 h−1 at 160 °C, was much higher than that of traditional CuZnAl catalyst that was almost inactive at the same reaction conditions. More importantly, the 0.5Pd/MoC catalyst exhibited a very stable catalytic performance for hydrogen production from methanol decomposition at all test temperatures. This could be attributed to the presence of strong interaction between the Pd particles and α-MoC1−x phase on the 0.5Pd/MoC catalyst.