UC Berkeley

Hydrogen is regarded as an attractive alternative energy carrier due to its high gravimetric energy density and only water production upon combustion. However, due to its low volumetric energy density, there are still some challenges in practical hydrogen storage and transportation. In the past decade, using chemical bonds of liquid organic molecules as hydrogen carriers to generate hydrogen in situ provided a feasible method to potentially solve this problem. Research efforts on liquid organic hydrogen carriers (LOHCs) seek practical carrier systems and advanced catalytic materials that have the potential to reduce costs, increase reaction rate, and provide a more efficient catalytic hydrogen generation/storage process. In this work, we used methanol as a hydrogen carrier to release hydrogen in situ with the single-site Pt₁/CeO₂ catalyst. Moreover, in this reaction, compared with traditional nanoparticle catalysts, the single site catalyst displays excellent hydrogen generation efficiency, 40 times higher than 2.5 nm Pt/CeO₂ sample, and 800 times higher compared to 7.0 nm Pt/CeO₂ sample. This in-depth study highlights the benefits of single-site catalysts and paves the way for further rational design of highly efficient catalysts for sustainable energy storage applications.