Recently, the research team led by Professor Zhu Lihua from the School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering (Jiangxi Provincial Key Laboratory of Functional Crystalline Materials Chemistry) at our university has made a significant breakthrough in the field of energy catalysis. Their findings, titled "Methanol Enhanced Low-Cell-Voltage Hydrogen Generation at Industrial-Grade Current Density by Triadic Active Sites of Pt1–Pdn–(Ni,Co)(OH)x", have been published in the internationally renowned journal Journal of the American Chemical Society.
Hydrogen energy, as a green energy source, holds vast application potential. However, challenges in storage and transportation hinder its practical adoption. Methanol (ME), serving as a hydrogen storage carrier, offers an ideal solution for on-demand, on-site hydrogen production, circumventing the high costs and risks associated with transportation. Traditional methanol steam reforming for hydrogen generation requires high temperatures and pressures, often producing impurities such as CO, HCOOH, and unreacted methanol vapor, which are difficult to remove and can poison catalysts. Even with thermal reformers, net thermal efficiency remains low, and residual CO levels remain problematic despite methanol conversion rates exceeding 99%. Furthermore, hydrogen purification processes are both costly and complex. Thus, there is an urgent need to develop a low-cost, efficient, and impurity-free reforming method.
Electrochemical methanol coupling for hydrogen production enables hydrogen evolution under ambient conditions. However, the "ME-to-H2" conversion has long been constrained by high voltage (high energy consumption) and competitive oxygen evolution reactions. Recent advancements have focused on designing novel electrocatalysts capable of coupling methanol oxidation (MOR) and hydrogen evolution (HER) at low voltages with high efficiency.
Addressing this challenge, the study introduces a highly efficient, stable, and synergistic "triadic active sites" catalyst (denoted as TS catalyst: Pt1Pdn/(Ni,Co)(OH)x/C). By anchoring Pt single atoms and Pd nanoclusters onto a nickel-cobalt hydroxide (Ni,Co)(OH)x support, the team successfully achieved triadic site synergy (detailed mechanism in the paper). The TS catalyst not only enhances MOR selectivity—particularly promoting the *CHOOH pathway to suppress CO poisoning—but also creates an "acid-base separated microenvironment" during HER, improving water adsorption and dissociation efficiency. This catalyst demonstrates exceptional performance in MOR, HER, and integrated [MOR||HER] processes.
Professor Zhu Lihua’s team has long been dedicated to research in heterogeneous catalysis, electrocatalysis, and rare-earth catalysis. Their related achievements have been published in prestigious journals such as Journal of the American Chemical Society, Energy & Environmental Science, Advanced Energy Materials, Advanced Functional Materials, ACS Catalysis, Applied Catalysis B: Environmental, Journal of Catalysis, Chemical Engineering Journal, Small, Journal of Energy Chemistry, and Green Chemistry, with five authorized invention patents.
This work was supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the Jiangxi Provincial Natural Science Foundation for Distinguished Young Scholars, the Jiangxi High-Level Talent Recruitment Program, the Jiangxi Youth Jinggang Scholars Award Program, and the Jiangxi Provincial Key Laboratory of Functional Crystalline Materials Chemistry.
