Stable Cu/Cu<sub>2</sub>O/CuN<sub>3</sub>@NC Catalysts for Aqueous Phase Reforming of Methanol
Minglei Lu, Zhuoyu Zheng, Weiwei Lu, Haiping Zhu, Junwei Liao, Yuxin Ge, Xueer Huang, Qian Zhang, Jiajin Li, Yiyuan Zhou, Xiaoping Wu, Baozhu Chen, Chunxiao Yang, Xitang Qian, Minhua Shao, Tiejun Wang
Abstract
Aqueous-phase reforming of methanol represents a promising avenue for hydrogen (H 2 ) production. However, developing highly efficient and low-cost nonprecious catalysts remains challenging. Here, we report the synthesis of Cu-based catalysts with Cu, Cu 2 O, and CuN 3 nanoparticles anchored on the nitrogen-doped carbon, forming Cu 0 /Cu + /Cu-N 3 active sites. This catalyst achieves a H 2 production rate of 140.1 μmol/g cat /s at 210 °C, which is several times to 2 orders of magnitude higher than that of Cu-, Ni-, even Pt-based catalysts, demonstrating excellent long-term stability over 350 h at 210 °C. A mechanism investigation reveals that the Cu-N 3 site facilitates water dissociation into *OH and improves *CO and *OH conversion, leading to enhanced CO conversion and H 2 production kinetics.