CuO–ZnO catalyst decorated on porous CeO2-based nanosheets in-situ grown on cordierite for methanol steam reforming

Development of efficient and durable structured catalysts for hydrogen production by methanol steam reforming (MSR) is becoming extremely appealing owing to their low pressure drop and large open area. In this work, porous CeO2-based nanosheet array is in-situ grown on the surface of cordierite honeycomb ceramic by a simple hydrothermal approach. The generated porous nanosheet structure not only surpasses the obstacle of low specific surface area of cordierite (increasing from 4.4 to 252.6 m2 g-1), but also the peak area ratio of oxygen vacancies on the support surface rises from 19.7% to 29.7%, which are favorable to promote the catalytic activity and reduce by-product CO selectivity of structured catalysts in MSRreaction. Importantly, the structured catalysts formed by decorating CuO–ZnO catalysts on CeO2-based nanosheets via sol-gel combustion method remain porous structure, offering an ideal space for reactant entry and mass transfer diffusion, which facilitates reaction triggering and product discharge. The optimal structured catalyst achieves 100% methanol conversion at 260 °C without CO and the methanol conversion remains at 94.7% after 100 h of the reaction, exhibiting the excellent catalytic activity and durability. Thus, the structured catalyst has potential for industrial-scale preparation and application, especially for on-site hydrogen production in vehicles.