Thread Content
Achievement in the low-temperature production and storage of hydrogen was selected as one of the top 10 scientific advances in China in 2017. Author/Source: Date: 2018-03-09 Clicks: 74 On February 27, the Ministry of Science and Technology announced the “Top 10 Scientific Advances in China in 2017” in Beijing. The research achievement titled “Achieving Low-Temperature Production and Storage of Hydrogen,” carried out by Researcher Martin from the School of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering at Peking University in collaboration with Researcher Wen Xiaodong from the Key Laboratory of Coal Conversion at Shanxi Institute of Coal Chemistry, and Professor Ishikawa from Dalian University of Technology, was selected as one of the top ten advancements. Hydrogen energy is regarded as the next generation of clean secondary energy, but the efficient production of hydrogen, as well as its safe storage and transportation, have long been bottlenecks preventing its widespread use. Hydrogen is generated in situ through low-temperature liquid-phase reforming reactions using water and methanol; while releasing the hydrogen stored in methanol, it also dissociates an equimolar amount of water, thereby releasing additional hydrogen. Moreover, methanol is easy to transport, making it a viable approach for utilizing hydrogen energy. This reaction device is simple, has low energy consumption, and can be easily integrated into vehicles or coupled with polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells; moreover, the hydrogen gas produced accounts for 18.8% of its total weight. This achievement lies in the preparation of a high-performance methanol-water reforming catalyst by dispersing single-atom platinum on molybdenum carbide (α-MoC) with a face-centered cubic structure; at lower temperatures (150–190°C), the hydrogen production rate per mole of platinum per hour reaches 18,046 mol, which is about two orders of magnitude higher than that of previously reported low-temperature methanol reforming catalysts. The main reason is that α-MoC has a very strong ability to dissociate water, and this ability is comparable to that of platinum in dissociating methanol. At the same time, the researchers overcame the challenge of not being able to achieve both high reaction conversion rates and high reaction speeds in the water-gas shift hydrogen production process (CO+H2O=CO2+H2) at low temperatures, and developed a new catalytic system based on Au/α-MoC. The relevant research findings were published in Nature on April 6, 2017 (Nature, 544(7648): 80–83) and in Science on July 28, 2017 (Science, 357(6349): 389–393). The aforementioned research findings were covered by various scientific media outlets, which gave them high praise. The C&E News magazine of the American Chemical Society and Chemistry World magazine of the Royal Society of Chemistry published feature articles titled “Hydrogen Energy: New Processes for Producing Hydrogen Fuel” and “New Catalysts That Could Shape the Future of Hydrogen-Fueled Vehicles,” respectively. They stated that “with the successful development of this highly active catalytic system, the concept of storing hydrogen in methanol and releasing it when needed can now be put into practice, representing a major breakthrough in hydrogen storage and transportation systems.” “The \"Top 10 Scientific Advances in China\" is organized by departments such as the Basic Research Management Center of the Ministry of Science and Technology of the People’s Republic of China; it covers important advances in all fields of natural sciences. It is a well-known initiative for promoting basic research in China, and as of February 2018, 13 editions had been held. In 2017, the selection process consisted of three stages: recommendation, preliminary selection, and final selection. More than 2,200 experts and scholars, including academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering, experts from the advisory groups of the 973 Program, principal scientists of 973 Program projects, and directors of key laboratories, were invited to vote on 30 candidate scientific achievements selected from 270 in total. The top 10 scientific achievements based on the number of votes received were chosen as the “Top 10 Scientific Advances in China in 2017”. The holding of this selection event has played a positive role in promoting the spirit of science, the dissemination of scientific knowledge and methods, as well as raising awareness throughout society regarding our country’s basic research efforts.