Synthesis of novel nanocatalysts for renewable energy technology

• Grant number: 13/17720-6
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• Start date: October 01, 2013
• End date: April 30, 2015
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Chemistry - Inorganic Chemistry
• Principal Investigator: Daniela Zanchet
• Grantee: Daniel Augusto Cantane
• Host Institution: Instituto de Química (IQ). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 11/50727-9 - Development of systems for hydrogen production and for the generation and utilization of electrochemical energy, AP.TEM

Abstract

Glycerol, a biomass-derived oxygenated hydrocarbon, is a promising chemical compound as in situ source of hydrogen (H2) for renewable energy technology (fuel cells), because it offers high energy density, is non-toxic, is easily storage and renewable. However, the use of H2 as an energy vector obtained via catalytic reforming of glycerol (CRG) has been impeded by the low activity and selectivity of existing catalysts, due to undesirable parallel reaction pathways. The tuning of the activity/selectivity for these catalysts may be accessed by varying the support morphology (metallic oxide, MOx), aiming to explore different active sites (crystallographic faces) at the metal-support's interface. Therefore, the synthesis of supports with controlled-morphologies, including rod, wire and sphere, for delivering specific surface sites, is pivotal. Based on this, we propose to synthesize supported Pt catalysts on vanadium oxide nanostructures with different morphologies. By this means, structures and electronic properties of catalysis would be manipulated to provide a deeper understanding of the parameters that may lead to greater level of activity and selectivity in the CRG.