Photo-Driven Hydrogen Production from Methanol and Water using Plasmonic Cu Nanoparticles Derived from Layered Double Hydroxides

摘要

Methanol steam reforming (MSR) is viewed as an important technology inthe growth of a future hydrogen economy, with methanol serving as an easilytransportable and storable liquid hydrogen carrier. However, the thermocatalyticMSR reaction is energy intensive as it requires high temperatures.Herein, a novel L-Cu catalyst is successfully fabricated for photo-driven MSRthrough reduction of CuAl layered double hydroxide (CuAl-LDH) nanosheets.L-Cu offers outstanding activity for the photothermal conversion of methanoland water to hydrogen (160.5 μmol gcat~(?1) s~(?1)) under ultraviolet-visible irradiation,with this rate being much higher than that achieved for L-Cu at the sametemperature in the dark. Characterization studies using X-ray diffraction,X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, X-ray absorption spectroscopy, and highresolutiontransmission electron microscopy determine that L-Cu catalystcomprise Cu nanoparticles on an amorphous alumina support. Computationalcalculations reveale that Cu localized surface plasmon resonanceeffects promote the activation of H_2O, thereby underpinning the remarkablehydrogen production rates achieved during photo-driven MSR. This studyintroduces a novel photothermal strategy for hydrogen generation frommethanol, demonstrating the enormous potential of photothermal catalysis inthe chemical and energy sectors.