Chapter 9 - Recent advances in catalytic hydrogen generation from formic acid using carbon-based catalysts

Abstract

Hydrogen is a crucial actor in the future sustainable energy scenario. However, its implementation is held back by several considerations, mainly related to its production and storage. Chemical hydrogen storage in liquid organic hydrogen carriers (LOHCs) stands up as a great alternative to those conventional systems used for physical hydrogen storage. Among the LOHC available, formic acid, the simplest carboxylic acid, is considered one of the most auspicious options. Both homogeneous and heterogeneous systems can catalyze the dehydrogenation of formic acid, but heterogeneous catalysts are preferred practically. Finding active, selective, and stable catalysts able to produce hydrogen from formic acid is challenging. However, significant breakthroughs have recently been achieved by properly controlling and modulating the properties of both the active phase and support. Palladium is the most investigated active phase, which has been shown to display good performance when loaded onto adequate supports. Carbon materials are the most fruitfully investigated catalytic supports, which is due to their outstanding properties as well as tunable surface chemistry. The present chapter covers some representative breakthroughs recently achieved while exploring the performance of monometallic and bimetallic Pd-based catalysts supported on carbon materials.