Catalytic Performance of Nanostructured Plate-type Cu and Cu-Fe on ZnO Nanorods for Steam Reforming of Methanol
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1217-Y01-05
Catalytic performance of nanostructured plate-type Cu and Cu-Fe on ZnO nanorods for steam reforming of methanol Chien-Cheng Li1, Ran-Jin Lin2, Li-Chyong Chen1, Kuei-Hsien Chen3 1 Center for Condensed Matter Sciences, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10617, Taiwan, R.O.C. 2 Sing-Fu consulting Co. Ltd., Ping-Dong 900, Taiwan, R.O.C. 3 Institute of Atomic and Molecular Sciences, Academia Sinica, Taipei 10617, Taiwan, R.O.C. ABSTRACT The Cu-type and (Cu-Fe)-type film catalysts have been successfully prepared by the electroless plating on ZnO nanorods/stainless steel substrates. The microstructure features of the (Cu-Fe)-type films are highly porous and composed of plate-type grains. The addition of iron into Cu-type film can improve the reducibility of copper oxide. For (Cu-Fe)-type film catalyst with 5 at% of Fe, the reduction temperature is in the range of 195ºC to 216ºC as compared to 208ºC to 233ºC of Cu-type film catalyst. Additionally, the performance durability of the (Cu-Fe)type film catalysts is higher than that of Cu-type film catalysts. INTRODUCTION The reduction of hazardous emissions from mobile sources, the rising cost of fossil fuels, and environment protection has made fuel cells to be the subject of considerable attention [1-3]. Proton-exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFC) have potential as clean and high-performance power sources for portable electronic devices and automobile. However, storing the hydrogen fuels as a high pressure gas or liquid on board of a motor vehicle raises safety and mechanical problem. Having on board hydrogen production from liquid hydrocarbon sources appears to be a practical option [2-3]. The proton-exchange membrane fuel cells systems are using two types of the liquid hydrocarbon sources: the direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) and the reforming methanol fuel cell (RMFC) [4]. For RMFC system, the electrical energy is generated using concentrated hydrogen produced by steam reforming of methanol (SRM). SRM is a promising route to produce hydrogen and thus an attractive power source for on-board or portable devices [1-5]. Cu-based materials are well known as the most active catalysts for SRM. However, traditional CuO/ZnO or CuO/ZnO/Al2O3 catalysts have low thermal and durability above 300 [4-8]. Therefore, the development of stable catalysts with high activity and selectivity is required. The stability and activity of the Cu-based catalysts are strongly related to the additive metals, composition, dispersion of Cu, methods of catalyst preparation, surface area, and microstructure of the catalysts [5-8]. The detailed results about the effects of chemical composition and reaction temperature of the plated Cu and Cu-Fe catalysts on their durability in steam reforming of methanol were investigated. EXPERIMENT
The synthesis of ZnO nanorods was grown by electrodeposition on stainless steel. The depositions were carried out in a three-electrode configuration in a glass cell at 70ºC by immersing the cell in a water bath, in which a stainless steel, a platinum plate, and an
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