Hydrogen production and storage through tailor-made metal nitrides as unifying catalysts
Today`s demand for an "ideal catalyst" in the affordable H2 economy would be a cheap and “non critical” raw material (CRM) source an extremely high robustness enabling excellent turnover number (TON) data, non-toxicity, high activity and the potential to be used as a general "all in one” platform catalyst" enabling more efficient, affordable and safe sustainable H2 production, storage and transportation. Transition metal nitrides have been suggested for electrocatalytic H2 production and chemical storage due to: cheap and readily metal components, high surface areas and high stability under harsh chemical, thermal and mechanical conditions. However, its implementation is hampered by long-term efficiency, stability concerns as well as their catalytic activity. The Hy-NitCat project aims the tailor-made design, including synthesis, development and evaluation of novel “all in one” CRM-free metal nitride catalyst systems enabling efficient and affordable water splitting and storage for H2 into safe chemical energy carriers e.g. ammonia, formic acid (via CO2-fixation with H2) and hydrocarbons (via “green” syngas chemistry with H2, e.g., by Fischer-Tropsch-type reactions), including the study of reversible processes which would lead to a unique and cost-attractive storage solution of sustainable H2. A key step in the project is the understanding of the basic catalytic mechanisms and H2 storage opportunities (as organic storage materials) with these new catalysts to gain new knowledge of the fundamentals behind performance and outline potentialities using software for modelling, simulation and optimization of chemical processes and plants. Evaluation of tailor-made catalysts, tested in the laboratory as well as in operational environment aligned to the techno-economic assessment at worldwide level compared to state of the art (SOTA) approaches and strategies fits very well the aim of the Joint Call aiming for more efficient, reliable affordable and sustainable H2 production and safe storage and transport by means of high energy density chemical energy carriers.
Today`s demand for an "ideal catalyst" in the affordable H2 economy would be a cheap and “non critical” raw material (CRM) source an extremely high robustness enabling excellent turnover number (TON) data, non-toxicity, high activity and the potential to be used as a general "all in one” platform catalyst" enabling more efficient, affordable and safe sustainable H2 production, storage and transportation. Transition metal nitrides have been suggested for electrocatalytic H2 production and chemical storage due to: cheap and readily metal components, high surface areas and high stability under harsh chemical, thermal and mechanical conditions. However, its implementation is hampered by long-term efficiency, stability concerns as well as their catalytic activity. The Hy-NitCat project aims the tailor-made design, including synthesis, development and evaluation of novel “all in one” CRM-free metal nitride catalyst systems enabling efficient and affordable water splitting and storage for H2 into safe chemical energy carriers e.g. ammonia, formic acid (via CO2-fixation with H2) and hydrocarbons (via “green” syngas chemistry with H2, e.g., by Fischer-Tropsch-type reactions), including the study of reversible processes which would lead to a unique and cost-attractive storage solution of sustainable H2. A key step in the project is the understanding of the basic catalytic mechanisms and H2 storage opportunities (as organic storage materials) with these new catalysts to gain new knowledge of the fundamentals behind performance and outline potentialities using software for modelling, simulation and optimization of chemical processes and plants. Evaluation of tailor-made catalysts, tested in the laboratory as well as in operational environment aligned to the techno-economic assessment at worldwide level compared to state of the art (SOTA) approaches and strategies fits very well the aim of the Joint Call aiming for more efficient, reliable affordable and sustainable H2 production and safe storage and transport by means of high energy density chemical energy carriers.