Production of Hydrogen Using Nanocrystalline Protein-Templated Catalysts on M13 Phage

For decades, ethanol has been in use as a fuel for the storage of solar energy in an energy-dense, liquid form. Over the past decade, the ability to reform ethanol into hydrogen gas suitable for a fuel cell has drawn interest as a way to increase the efficiency of both vehicles and stand-alone power generators. Here we report the use of extremely small nanocrystalline materials to enhance the performance of 1% Rh/10% Ni@CeO2 catalysts in the oxidative steam reforming of ethanol with a ratio of 1.7:1:10:11 (air/EtOH/water/argon) into hydrogen gas, achieving 100% conversion of ethanol at only 300 degrees C with 60% H-2 in the product stream and less than 0.5% CO. Additionally, nanocrystalline 10% Ni@CeO2 was shown to achieve 100% conversion of ethanol at 400 degrees C with 73% H-2, 2% CO, and 2% CH4 in the product stream. Finally, we demonstrate the use of biological templating on M13 to improve the resistance of this catalyst to deactivation over 52 h tests at high flow rates (120 000 h(-1) GEM) at 450 degrees C. This study suggests that the use of highly nanocrystalline, biotemplated catalysts to improve activity and stability is a promising route to significant gains over traditional catalyst manufacture methods.