Ternary NiMo-Bi liquid alloy catalyst for efficient hydrogen production from methane pyrolysis.

Chen, Luning; Song, Zhigang; Zhang, Shuchen; Chang, Chung-Kai; Chuang, Yu-Chun; Peng, Xinxing; Dun, Chaochao; Urban, Jeffrey J et al. · Science · 2023

basic_science · Level V

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Abstract

Methane pyrolysis (MP) is a potential technology for CO<sub>2</sub>-free hydrogen production that generates only solid carbon by-products. However, developing a highly efficient catalyst for stable methane pyrolysis at a moderate temperature has been challenging. We present a new and highly efficient catalyst created by modifying a Ni-Bi liquid alloy with the addition of Mo to produce a ternary NiMo-Bi liquid alloy catalyst (LAC). This catalyst exhibited a considerably low activation energy of 81.2 kilojoules per mole, which enabled MP at temperatures between 450 and 800 Celsius and a hydrogen generation efficiency of 4.05 ml per gram of nickel per minute. At 800 Celsius, the catalyst exhibited 100% H<sub>2</sub> selectivity and 120 hours of stability.