SGER: Electrically-Activated Nanocatalysts for Hydrogen Production

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The objective of this proposal is to investigate the mechanism of enhanced catalyst activity when electrical current is used to pretreat the catalyst. In preliminary work the PI discovered that the activity of an indium/tin oxide catalyst for the selective oxidation of methanol to hydrogen is enhanced relative to thermal pretreatment when an electrical current is passed through the catalyst. This reaction of is particular interest for portable fuel-cell applications, where hydrogen could be generated from methanol, which is more easily stored than hydrogen. The combination of electrical current and temperature required to maintain enhanced activation will be studied. Catalyst particle size will be studied by using both nanoparticles and larger catalyst particles. Effects of reaction local temperature gradients will be measured to determine whether local temperature on the particles is elevated. Other organic reactions will be studied to determine whether this novel effect is more general. If successful, this work could contribute to improved fuel-cell performance and more broadly to an understanding of an effect potentially useful for the improvement of catalyst activity.