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 chemisorption 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 EG due to both the synergetic effect of having a low amount of metal sintering during the reaction process and the more favorable transport and diffusion of the reactants and products.