Advances and prospects in electrocatalytic hydrogenation of aromatic hydrocarbons for synthesis of “loaded” liquid organic hydrogen carriers

Abstract

Liquid organic hydrogen carriers (LOHC) are considered as the safest and most promising candidates for hydrogen storage, meeting the requirements of sufficient weight and volume capacity (over 6 wt%), hydrogenation-dehydrogenation reversibility and low cost. The prospects of catalytic hydrogenation of polycyclic hydrocarbons for the production of LOHC are considered. The comparison shows that electrocatalytic hydrogenation of aromatic LOHC is highly advantageous, since this approach eliminates the use of gaseous hydrogen in the production of "loaded" LOHC and therefore is safer than the conventional hydrogenation. The advantage of electrocatalytic hydrogenation compared to catalytic hydrogenation is that high temperatures are not required. The approaches to increase the efficiency of electrocatalytic hydrogenation are discussed.