Synergistic structural and electronic influences of Pt bead catalysts on dehydrogenation activity for liquid organic hydrogen carriers

• Published in: Chemical engineering journal (Lausanne, Switzerland : 1996) Switzerland : 1996), 2024-05, Vol.487, p.150446, Article 150446
• Main Authors: Han, Seungmok, Ahn, Chang-il, Shim, Byeong Jo, On, Euirim, Kim, Chan, Sohn, Hyuntae, Jeong, Hyangsoo, Kim, Yongmin, Yoon, Chang Won
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Dehydrogenation; Egg-shell catalyst; Liquid Organic Hydrogen Carriers (LOHCs); Potassium promotor; Pt/θ-Al2O3 bead catalyst
• ISSN: 1385-8947; 1873-3212
• DOI: 10.1016/j.cej.2024.150446

[Display omitted] •Four Pt bead catalysts were synthesized using two distinct methods, both with and without potassium.•Catalyst synthesis methods impact the Pt electronic structure by altering the size and distribution of Pt sites.•The K promotor plays a pivotal role in modifying the Pt electronic state to enhance catalytic activity.•An egg-shell structured, K-PtE/θ-Al2O3 catalyst exhibits superior activity for LOHC dehydrogenation. Alumina-supported Pt bead catalysts with uniform (PtU/θ-Al2O3) or egg-shell (PtE/θ-Al2O3) structure and their corresponding potassium-doped counterparts (K-PtU/θ-Al2O3, K-PtE/θ-Al2O3) were synthesized to elucidate the influence of structure-induced active metal distribution and promotor on the dehydrogenation of liquid organic hydrogen carriers (LOHCs). Characterizations of the catalysts confirmed that different synthetic methods led to distinct Pt distributions on the Al2O3 surface. PtE/θ-Al2O3 and K-PtE/θ-Al2O3 had an average size of 1 nm with narrow Pt distributions while PtU/θ-Al2O3 and K-PtU/θ-Al2O3 exhibited bimodal distributions in Pt particle size (