Chromic hydroxide-decorated palladium nanoparticles confined by amine-functionalized mesoporous silica for rapid dehydrogenation of formic acid

Formic acid (FA), one of the products of biomass conversion and CO2 reduction, has attracted much atten-tion as a renewable liquid hydrogen carrier with a high hydrogen content (4.4 wt%). Searching for effi-cient catalysts to realize hydrogen evolution from FA are highly desired but challenging. Herein, ultrafine and mono-dispersed Pd-Cr(OH)3 nanoparticles (1.3 nm) loaded on amine-functionalized meso-porous silica (AFMS) have been prepared and applied as an effective catalyst for rapid hydrogen produc-tion from additive-free FA. The as-synthesized Pd-Cr(OH)3/AFMS catalysts exhibited efficient catalytic activity and 100% hydrogen selectivity and conversion toward FA dehydrogenation reaction without additives, giving an initial TOF value of 3112 h-1 at 323 K, which is comparable to most of the highly effi-cient heterogeneous catalysts reported so far under similar reaction conditions. This work provides a fea-sible idea for the design metal hydroxide-modified Pd-based efficient heterogeneous catalyst, which is expected to enhance the application of FA in fuel cells.(c) 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

In this study, ultrafine Pd-Cr(OH)3/AFMS catalysts were successfully synthesized and demonstrated efficient catalytic activity for hydrogen evolution from formic acid without additives. The catalyst exhibited comparable catalytic performance to other highly efficient catalysts under similar reaction conditions.