TY - JOUR
T1 - Enhanced hydrogen selectivity via photo-engineered surface defects for methanol steam reformation using zinc oxide-copper nanocomposite catalysts
AU - Danwittayakul, Supamas
AU - Lakshman, Karthik
AU - Al-Harthi, Salim
AU - Dutta, Joydeep
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors would like to acknowledge partial financial support from the Center of Excellence in Nanotechnology at the Asian Institute of Technology, National Nanotechnology Center (NANOTEC) and National Metal and Materials Technology Center (MTEC), both belonging to the National Science & Technology Development Agency (NSTDA), Thailand and the Research Council (TRC) of Oman.
PY - 2014/2/10
Y1 - 2014/2/10
N2 - Methanol steam reformation (MSR) to produce hydrogen (H2) gas using copper on zinc oxide (Cu/ZnO) supported catalysts is attractive due to the simple and low cost preparation process of the catalyst. H2 yield from MSR is proportional to total catalyst loading which can be tuned during catalyst preparation. By creating UV-c light induced surface defects on ZnO nanorods, we have shown improved copper (Cu) nano-particle distribution on the ZnO nanorods leading to better H2 yield. Increase in Cu nanoparticle adsorption is achieved by in situ reduction of Cu ions by photo-generated electrons, facilitated by ZnO surface defects that act as high energy sites favorable for Cu ion adsorption and their subsequent growth into nanoparticles. The modulated Cu/ZnO catalyst increases H2 selectivity by 57% along with a corresponding increase in CO content, which can be controlled by adjusting H2O:MeOH ratio in the precursor solution.
AB - Methanol steam reformation (MSR) to produce hydrogen (H2) gas using copper on zinc oxide (Cu/ZnO) supported catalysts is attractive due to the simple and low cost preparation process of the catalyst. H2 yield from MSR is proportional to total catalyst loading which can be tuned during catalyst preparation. By creating UV-c light induced surface defects on ZnO nanorods, we have shown improved copper (Cu) nano-particle distribution on the ZnO nanorods leading to better H2 yield. Increase in Cu nanoparticle adsorption is achieved by in situ reduction of Cu ions by photo-generated electrons, facilitated by ZnO surface defects that act as high energy sites favorable for Cu ion adsorption and their subsequent growth into nanoparticles. The modulated Cu/ZnO catalyst increases H2 selectivity by 57% along with a corresponding increase in CO content, which can be controlled by adjusting H2O:MeOH ratio in the precursor solution.
KW - Cu/ZnO nanocatalysts
KW - Hydrogen production
KW - Methanol steam reforming
KW - ZnO nanorods
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U2 - 10.1016/j.apcata.2013.11.040
DO - 10.1016/j.apcata.2013.11.040
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84890514243
SN - 0926-860X
VL - 471
SP - 63
EP - 69
JO - Applied Catalysis A: General
JF - Applied Catalysis A: General
ER -
