Tuning the Adsorption Energy of Methanol Molecules Along Ni-N-Doped Carbon Phase Boundaries by the Mott–Schottky Effect for Gas-Phase Methanol Dehydrogenation

Zhong Hua Xue, Jing Tan Han, Wei Jie Feng, Qiu Ying Yu, Xin Hao Li*, Markus Antonietti, Jie Sheng Chen

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    95 Scopus citations

    Abstract

    Engineering the adsorption of molecules on active sites is an integral and challenging part for the design of highly efficient transition-metal-based catalysts for methanol dehydrogenation. A Mott–Schottky catalyst composed of Ni nanoparticles and tailorable nitrogen-doped carbon-foam (Ni/NCF) and thus tunable adsorption energy is presented for highly efficient and selective dehydrogenation of gas-phase methanol to hydrogen and CO even under relatively high weight hourly space velocities (WHSV). Both theoretical and experimental results reveal the key role of the rectifying contact at the Ni/NCF boundaries in tailoring the electron density of Ni species and enhancing the absorption energies of methanol molecules, which leads to a remarkably high turnover frequency (TOF) value (356 mol methanol mol−1 Ni h−1 at 350 °C), outpacing previously reported bench-marked transition-metal catalysts 10-fold.

    Original languageEnglish (US)
    Pages (from-to)2697-2701
    Number of pages5
    JournalAngewandte Chemie - International Edition
    Volume57
    Issue number10
    DOIs
    StatePublished - Mar 1 2018

    Keywords

    • adsorption energy
    • gas–solid reactions
    • heterogeneous catalysis
    • Mott–Schottky effect
    • nanostructures

    ASJC Scopus subject areas

    • Catalysis
    • General Chemistry

    Fingerprint

    Dive into the research topics of 'Tuning the Adsorption Energy of Methanol Molecules Along Ni-N-Doped Carbon Phase Boundaries by the Mott–Schottky Effect for Gas-Phase Methanol Dehydrogenation'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

    Cite this