Simple and Efficient System for Combined Solar Energy Harvesting and Reversible Hydrogen Storage

Abstract

Solar energy harvesting and hydrogen economy are the two most important green energy endeavors for the future. However, a critical hurdle to the latter is how to safely and densely store and transfer hydrogen. Herein, we developed a reversible hydrogen storage system based on low-cost liquid organic cyclic hydrocarbons at room temperature and atmospheric pressure. A facile switch of hydrogen addition (>97% conversion) and release (>99% conversion) with superior capacity of 7.1 H2 wt % can be quickly achieved over a rationally optimized platinum catalyst with high electron density, simply regulated by dark/light conditions. Furthermore, the photodriven dehydrogenation of cyclic alkanes gave an excellent apparent quantum efficiency of 6.0% under visible light illumination (420-600 nm) without any other energy input, which provides an alternative route to artificial photosynthesis for directly harvesting and storing solar energy in the form of chemical fuel.

Covalent triazine framework supported non-noble metal nanoparticles with superior activity for catalytic hydrolysis of ammonia borane: from mechanistic study to catalyst design

“…6 ), indicating an electron-rich state of Co on CTF-1, which also reflected electron transfer from CTF-1 to Co. As we mentioned in the catalyst design section, electron rich metals benefit several catalytic reactions, including the activation of N–H, C–H, and O–H bonds. 57 , 59 , 61 In accordance with the previous investigations mentioned above, we propose that such an electron-rich state would benefit the electron transfer from Co to the antibonding orbital of H 2 O molecules, resulting in effective activation of H 2 O. Therefore, the negatively charged Co on CTF may favour the activation of H 2 O molecules.…”

“… 59 , 60 Similarly, Pt species on N-modified TiO 2 with high electron density were beneficial to the activation of C–H bonds. 61 Therefore, it is reasonable to deduce that by increasing the electron densities of non-noble metals, such as Co and Ni, the catalytic performances in AB hydrolysis could be significantly improved.…”

Novel nanoporous N-doped carbon-supported ultrasmall Pd nanoparticles: Efficient catalysts for hydrogen storage and release

“…These efforts include research in hydrogen (H 2 ), which has long been regarded as one of the most promising energy carriers, because it is a clean and renewable fuel [4,5]. While hydrogen's use in fuel cells has long been successfully demonstrated, finding efficient hydrogen storage systems that can make hydrogen-based energy technologies sustainable and widely applicable still remains a challenge [6,7]. To address these issues, several chemical systems that inherently possess high hydrogen density and that can release H 2 hydrolytically or thermally, such as sodium borohydride or ammonia borane, have been widely studied [8,9].…”

Acceptorless Dehydrogenation of N‐Heterocycles by Merging Visible‐Light Photoredox Catalysis and Cobalt Catalysis

“…It was proved that EtOH and MeOH could not produce H 2 under the reaction conditions (entries 5 and 7). To the best of our knowledge, such mild reaction conditions are very rare for potential H 2 storage materials, apart from strongly corrosive formic acid, the H 2 storage irreversible ammonia borane, and highly toxic hydrazine and hydrazine borane . Other photosensitizers and cobalt catalysts were explored.…”