Development of highly active Co/Mo2C catalysts for green H2 production from NH3

The development of cost-effective catalysts with excellent catalytic performance is of great interest for ammonia cracking. In this work, an innovative and stable cobalt catalyst supported on a commercial molybdenum carbide material was prepared. The influence of pre-activation treatment on the cata...

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Detalhes bibliográficos
Autores: Pinzón García, Marina, Martín Martínez, Carlos, Romero Izquierdo, Amaya, Lucas Consuegra, Antonio de, Osa Puebla, Ana Raquel de la, Sánchez Paredes, Paula
Tipo de documento: artigo
Data de publicação:2026
País:España
Recursos:Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha
Repositório:RUIdeRA. Repositorio Institucional de la UCLM
OAI Identifier:oai:ruidera.uclm.es:10578/46219
Acesso em linha:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cattod.2025.115615
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S092058612500433X
https://hdl.handle.net/10578/46219
Access Level:Acceso aberto
Palavra-chave:Ammonia decomposition
Cobalt
Hydrogen
Metal loading
Molybdenum carbide
Reduction pretreatment
Descrição
Resumo:The development of cost-effective catalysts with excellent catalytic performance is of great interest for ammonia cracking. In this work, an innovative and stable cobalt catalyst supported on a commercial molybdenum carbide material was prepared. The influence of pre-activation treatment on the catalytic activity of a 5Co/Mo2C catalyst for ammonia decomposition was investigated using H2/Ar and NH3/Ar at 400 °C. Both activations resulted in a high ammonia conversion (~ 90 %) at 500 °C. XPS analysis revealed that H2 pre-activation resulted in greater surface Co/Mo ratio and enhanced charge transfer, contributing to increase active cobalt and hence better catalytic activity. The effect of cobalt loading (2.5–10 wt%) was further optimized, with 7.5Co/Mo2C achieving the highest conversion (93.7 % at 450 °C), attributed to optimal Co dispersion and crystallite size (~16.8 nm). The addition of a secondary metal (K, Cs or La) to the 7.5Co/Mo2C catalyst showed that lanthanum significantly improved the catalytic activity by increasing the basicity, cobalt dispersion, and surface Co/Mo ratio. In contrast, K and Cs had a negative effect, causing agglomeration and reduction of active sites by blocking. These findings indicate that H2 pre-activation and La promotion were key factors for enhancing ammonia decomposition efficiency on Co/Mo2C catalyst.