Abstract
Steam reforming of liquid hydrocarbon fuels is an appealing way for the production of hydrogen. In this work, the Rh/Al2O3 catalysts with nanorod (NR), nanofiber (NF) and sponge-shaped (SP) alumina supports were successfully designed for the steam reforming of n-dodecane as a surrogate compound for diesel/jet fuels. The catalysts before and after reaction were well characterized by using ICP, XRD, N2 adsorption, TEM, HAADF-STEM, H2-TPR, CO chemisorption, NH3-TPD, CO2-TPD, XPS, Al27 NMR and TG. The results confirmed that the dispersion and surface structure of Rh species is quite dependent on the enclosed various morphologies. Rh/Al2O3-NR possesses highly dispersed, uniform and accessible Rh particles with the highest percentage of surface electron deficient Rh0 active species, which due to the unique properties of Al2O3 nanorod including high crystallinity, relatively large alumina particle size, thermal stability, and large pore volume and size. As a consequent, Rh/Al2O3-NR catalyst exhibited superior catalytic activity towards steam reforming reactions and hydrogen production rate over other two catalysts. Especially, Rh/Al2O3-NR catalyst showed the highest hydrogen production rate of 87,600 mmol gfuel−1 gRh−1min−1 among any Rh-based catalysts and other noble metal-based catalysts to date. After long-term reaction, a significant deactivation occurred on Rh/Al2O3–NF and Rh/Al2O3-SP catalysts, due to aggregation and sintering of Rh metal particles, coke deposition and poor hydrothermal stability of nanofibrous structure. In contrast, the Rh/Al2O3-NR catalyst shows excellent reforming stability with negligible coke formation. No significantly sintering and aggregation of the Rh particles is observed after long-term reaction. Such great catalyst stability can be explained by the role of hydrothermal stable nanorod alumina support, which not only provides a unique environment for the stabilization of uniform and small-size Rh particles but also affords strong surface basic sites.
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