A Study on the Characteristics of the Pt/Al2O3 Catalyst by Optimizing Thermal Shock Synthesis and the Application on Dehydrogenation

Abstract

Metal nanoclusters (1-10 nm) have drawn great attention because of their potential applications including energy storage, catalysis, and electronic devices. However, manufacturing ultrasmall nanoparticles in an unaggregated state is not a solved problem. Here, thermal shock method for overcoming these limitations was suggested. The properties between the heat treatment of the conventional method and TS method are very different. The Thermal shock catalyst synthesized through the new reaction mechanism is small and uniformly formed. In this study, a catalyst made by the thermal shock method was applied to the dehydrogenation reaction of H12-BT (perhydro-benzyltoluene), one of the liquid organic hydrogen carrier (LOHC) materials. Active dehydrogenation catalysts by reducing the size of metal nanoparticles and improving the interaction of metal supports are considered effective approaches. In this respect, the production of well-dispersed metal nanoparticles enriched on the surface and the enhancement of the interaction between the metal and the support are considered an effective approach. Therefore, the Pt/Al2O3 catalyst synthesized by thermal shock synthesis method variables was evaluated in the dehydrogenation of LOHC compounds. The dehydrogenation activity was the best at the number of pulses of 10 times and duration time within 10 seconds. In addition, synthesis method was optimized by adjusting the variables. Catalysts with 3 pulse counts for 3 seconds at 500 °C showed a high dehydrogenation efficiency of 88% and it was confirmed that the activation energy was reduced to 160 kJ mol−1. The activity results are consistent with the interaction enhancement effect between metal and support which is another important factor for the catalytic dehydrogenation performance. These results suggest that the enhancement of the interaction between the metal and the support can be adjusted by the thermal shock synthesis method variable.