Titanosilicate zeolite supported Pt nanoparticles with electronic metal-support interactions for efficient methanol steam reforming

Abstract

In situ release of hydrogen from liquid organic hydrogen carriers―such as methanol by steam reforming, offers a feasible way to potentially solve the problem of hydrogen storage and transport. Here we report that the titanosilicalite-1 (TS-1) zeolite support efficiently accelerates the Pt catalyzed methanol steam reforming (MSR), giving the hydrogen productivity at 639.7 molH2 molPt−1 h−1 at 250 °C, which steadily outperforms the Pt nanoparticles supported on other carriers, including ZSM-5 zeolite, amorphous SiO2, and TiO2 anatase. Further studies reveal that the electronic metal-support interactions (EMSIs) between Pt and TS-1 zeolite occurs, which modifies Pt nanoparticles surface charge state to accelerate the reaction. More importantly, the interactions could stabilize the Pt nanoparticles, achieving sinter-resistant Pt/TS-1 catalyst in the continuous MSR tests. This finding indicates the important role of heteroatoms in the zeolite framework for supported metal nanoparticles, which open a new way to guide the design of highly efficient heterogeneous catalysts in the future.