Non-noble Ni–Cu/ACC bimetallic catalyst for dehydrogenation of liquid organic hydrides for hydrogen storage

The effect of Cu on dehydrogenation activity of Ni has been observed when dehydrogenation of methyl cyclohexane (MCH) was carried out by using bimetallic Ni–Cu supported on activated carbon cloth (ACC) catalysts with various Ni to Cu ratios and constant total metal content of about 10 wt%. The dehydrogenation of MCH was studied for delivery of clean hydrogen to hydrogen fueling station. Catalysts have been synthesized by adsorption method and characterized by atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS), X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Among all combinations of this study 8 wt% Ni + 2 wt% Cu/ACC was found to show strong synergetic effect. This catalyst exhibited relatively high H2 evolution rate 39.4 mmol/gmet/min during the dehydrogenation of MCH. At the same time methane evolution rate was relatively low which indicated insignificant side reaction of hydrogenolysis. The study reveals that presence of specific amount of Cu enhances the dehydrogenation activity of Ni and suppresses the hydrogenolysis activity for the same. The Ni–Cu/ACC catalyst may be a potential non-noble metal catalyst for dehydrogenation reaction.