Efficient generation of hydrogen from biomass without carbon monoxide at room temperature – Formaldehyde to hydrogen catalyzed by Ag nanocrystals

In this paper, we present a new route for hydrogen generation from biomass at room temperature without any carbon monoxide over nano-metal-catalysts. It has been found that the Ag nanocrystals are highly efficient and stable catalysts for the CO-free hydrogen production from formaldehyde (HCHO), a model compound of biomass, at room temperature and at atmospheric pressure. By optimizing the structure and component of catalysts, reaction parameters such as temperature, catalyst amounts, oxygen, formaldehyde concentrations, and NaOH concentrations, the hydrogen generation rate has been maintained for hours without any decay. Furthermore, the apparent activation energy of the Ag catalyzed hydrogen production reaction is determined to be 11.8 kJ mol−1, which was much lower than that of the literature results (65 kJ mol−1) without catalyst. Because of its high hydrogen generation rate, hydrogen generation efficiency, lower activation energy, and the low cost, we speculate that this novel Ag catalyst based hydrogen generation reaction should be a promising candidate for providing hydrogen in PEMFCs at room temperature.