Hydrogen production via the aqueous phase reforming of ethylene glycol over platinum-supported ordered mesoporous carbon catalysts: Effect of structure and framework-configuration

Structurally and framework-configurationally different kinds of ordered mesoporous carbon (OMC) supported platinum catalyst were applied to aqueous phase reforming (APR) of ethylene glycol (EG) for hydrogen production. Wide-angle XRD patterns, CO chemi-sorption results, and TEM analyses clearly provide evidence that Pt nanoparticles on 3-dimensional (3-D) OMC support (CMK-8, CMK-9) are less sintered than Pt nanoparticles on 2-dimensional (2-D) OMC support (CMK-3, CMK-5). In addition, due to the large surface area caused by the carbon microporosity and the additional mesopores of hollow-type OMC support, OMC with a hollow-type framework-configuration (CMK-5, CMK-9) provides Pt metal nanoparticles smaller than those of the rod-type OMC (CMK-3, CMK-8). Therefore, the Pt/CMK-9 catalyst with a 3-D OMC and hollow-type framework configuration exhibits the best hydrogen production in the APR with EC due to both the synergetic effect of having a low amount of metal sintering during the reaction process and the mole favorable transport and diffusion of the reactants and products. Copyright (C) 2012, Hydrogen Energy Publications, LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.