Issue 23, 2010
From the journal:

Journal of Materials Chemistry

Fast and efficient hydrogen generation catalyzed by cobalt talc nanolayers dispersed in silica aerogel

Montserrat Domínguez,ab   Elena Taboada,c   Hicham Idriss,de   Elies Molinsc  and  Jordi Llorca*ab  

* Corresponding authors

a Institut de Tècniques Energètiques, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (INTE-UPC), Av. Diagonal, 647, Barcelona, Spain

b Centre for Research in Nanoengineering, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (CRNE-UPC), Barcelona, Spain
E-mail: jordi.llorca@upc.edu
Fax: +34 934017149
Tel: +34 934011708

c Institut de Ciència de Materials de Barcelona, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (ICMAB-CSIC), Campus de la UAB, Bellaterra, Spain
E-mail: elies@icmab.es
Fax: +0034 935805729
Tel: +0034 935801853

d Energy Futures Research Centre, Department of Chemistry, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, UK

e School of Engineering, Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen, UK
E-mail: h.idriss@abdn.ac.uk
Fax: +44 (0) 1224272921
Tel: +44 (0) 1224274503

Abstract

Cobalt talc nanolayers dispersed in silica aerogel constitute an active nanocomposited material with outstanding catalytic properties for the generation of hydrogen by ethanol steam reforming at low temperature. Delamination of talc particles into individual nanolayers of ca. 1.8 nm thick readily occurs under the reforming conditions, which results in a strong enhancement of the exposed catalytic active area. The presence of aerogel assures the immobilization of the talc nanolayers resulting from the delamination while maintaining an excellent mass transfer of products and reactants to the surface of the talc nanolayers. A fast and reversible surface activation for the steam reforming of ethanol occurs at 580–590 K under the reforming conditions. Magnetic characterization and in situ X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) show the non-reversible formation of metal cobalt ensembles during activation, which escape HRTEM detection. This material appears as a good candidate for on-board hydrogen generation from ethanol–water mixtures for mobile and portable fuel cell applications.

Graphical abstract: Fast and efficient hydrogen generation catalyzed by cobalt talc nanolayers dispersed in silica aerogel

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Article information

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1039/C0JM00184H
Article type
Paper
Submitted
27 Jan 2010
Accepted
25 Mar 2010
First published
30 Apr 2010

J. Mater. Chem., 2010,20, 4875-4883

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Fast and efficient hydrogen generation catalyzed by cobalt talc nanolayers dispersed in silica aerogel

M. Domínguez, E. Taboada, H. Idriss, E. Molins and J. Llorca, J. Mater. Chem., 2010, 20, 4875 DOI: 10.1039/C0JM00184H

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