Purification of Hydrogen from CO with Cu/ZSM-5 Adsorbents

The transition to a hydrogen economy requires the development of cost-effective methods for purifying hydrogen from CO. In this study, we explore the possibilities of Cu/ZSM-5 as an adsorbent for this purpose. Samples obtained by cation exchange from aqueous solution (AE) and solid-state exchange with CuCl (SE) were characterized by in situ EPR and FTIR, H2-TPR, CO-TPD, etc. The AE samples possess mainly isolated Cu2+ cations not adsorbing CO. Reduction generates Cu+ sites demonstrating different affinity to CO, with the strongest centres desorbing CO at about 350 °C. The SE samples have about twice higher Cu/Al ratios, as one H+ is exchanged with one Cu+ cation. Although some of the introduced Cu+ sites are oxidized to Cu2+ upon contact with air, they easily recover their original oxidation state after thermal treatment in vacuum or under inert gas stream. In addition, these Cu+ centres regenerate at relatively low temperatures. It is important that water does not block the CO adsorption sites because of the formation of Cu+(CO)(H2O)x complexes. Dynamic adsorption studies show that Cu/ZSM-5 selectively adsorbs CO in the presence of hydrogen. The results indicate that the SE samples are very perspective materials for purification of H2 from CO.

Using pH dependence to understand mechanisms in electrochemical CO reduction

Electrochemical conversion of CO(2) into hydrocarbons and oxygenates is envisioned as a promising path towards closing the carbon cycle in modern technology. To this day, however, the reaction mechanisms towards the plethora of products are disputed, complicating the search for novel catalyst materials. In order to conclusively identify the rate-limiting steps in CO reduction on Cu, we analyzed the mechanisms on the basis of constant potential DFT kinetics and experiments at a wide range of pH values (3 - 13). We find that *CO dimerization is energetically favoured as the rate limiting step towards multi-carbon products. This finding is consistent with our experiments, where the reaction rate is nearly unchanged on an SHE potential scale, even under acidic conditions. For methane, both theory and experiments indicate a change in the rate-limiting step with electrolyte pH from the first protonation step in acidic/neutral conditions to a later one in alkaline conditions. We also show, through a detailed analysis of the microkinetics, that a surface combination of *CO and *H is inconsistent with the measured current densities and Tafel slopes. Finally, we discuss the implications of our understanding for future mechanistic studies and catalyst design.

Catalytic CO2/CO Reduction: Gas, Aqueous and Aprotic phase

The catalytic reduction of CO2/CO is key to reducing carbon footprint and producing the chemical building blocks needed for society. In this work, we performed a theoretical investigation of the differences and similarities of the CO2/CO catalytic reduction reactions in the gas, aqueous solution, and aprotic solution. We demonstrate that binding energy serves as a good descriptor for gaseous and aqueous phases and allows categorizing catalysts by reduction products. The CO vs. O and CO vs. H binding energies for these phases gives a convenient mapping of catalysts regarding their main product for the CO2/CO reduction reactions. However, for the aprotic phase, descriptors alone are insufficient for the mapping. We show that a microkinetic model (including the CO and H binding energies) allows spanning and interpreting the reaction space for the aprotic phase.