Innovative synthesis of hIghly dispersed Pt-free metallic nanoparticles for dehydrogenation reactions involved in liquid organic hydrogen carriers – INSIDE-Nano

Generally, noble metal-based catalysts are applied to catalyze hydrogenation/dehydrogenation (HYD/DH) reactions due to their high catalytic activity and selectivity. However, their high cost and scarcity limit their large-scale use in fields of application yet considered essential to respond to current scientific challenges. It is the case for the highly promising technology of H2 storage by Liquid Organic Hydrogen Carriers (LOHC) based on reversible HYD/DH cycles, using widely Pt/Al2O3 catalysts for DH reactions due to the high Pt ability to activate C-H bonds and the capability of alumina support to disperse the metallic active sites. Non-noble metals, such as Ni, used in mono or bimetallic formulations, are expected to be good substitutes for Pt-based catalysts if the conception of these materials allows (i) generating an optimal dispersion of the metallic phase on the support and (ii) resisting to the agglomeration phenomenon during time on stream, both generally difficult to reach with this type of metal but essential for obtaining sufficient activity and stability.
The aim of the INSIDE-Nano project is to incorporate directly a bimetallic Ni-based phase from the synthesis step of the oxide-based support by an innovative one-pot method, in order to obtain a metallic phase highly dispersed with strong metal-support interactions limiting its sintering. The design of these NiM-SiO2 catalysts (M = Cu, Zn, Sn) will be optimized in order to maximize their efficiency in terms of activity, selectivity and stability for the DH reaction of methylcyclohexane (MCH) involved in the LOHC processes.
This project involves three complementary academic research groups specialized in the sol-gel chemistry and the synthesis of porous materials, in the heterogeneous catalysis, and in understanding and modeling transport phenomena in MCH DH catalytic reactor.