Fabrication of CuYO 2 Nanofibers by Electrospinning and Applied to Hydrogen Harvest

• Published in: Materials Vol. 15; no. 24
• Main Authors: Hsu, Kai-Chun, Keyan, Arjunan Karthi, Hung, Chin-Wei, Sakthinathan, Subramanian, Yu, Chung-Lun, Chiu, Te-Wei, Nagaraj, Karuppiah, Fan, Fang-Yu, Shan, Yung-Kang, Chen, Po-Chou
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland 15-12-2022
• Subjects: methanol steam reforming; electrospinning; delafossite; CuYO2 nanofibers; hydrogen production; nanofibers
• ISSN: 1996-1944; 1996-1944

Hydrogen can be employed as an alternative renewable energy source in response to climate change, global warming, and the energy problem. Methanol gas steam reforming (SRM) is the major method used in industry to produce hydrogen. In the SRM process, the catalyst nature offers benefits such as low cost, simplicity, and quickness. In this work, delafossite copper yttrium oxide (CuYO
) nanofibers were successfully prepared by electrospinning. The prepared CuYO
nanofibers have different physical and chemical properties including thermoelectric behavior. The electrospinning method was used to produce as-spun fibers and annealed in an air atmosphere to form Cu
Y
O
fibers; then, Cu
Y
O
fibers were annealed in a nitrogen atmosphere to form CuYO
nanofibers. X-ray diffraction studies and thermogravimetric and transmission electron microscope analysis confirmed the formation of CuYO
nanofibers. The CuYO
nanofibers were applied to methanol steam reforming for hydrogen production to confirm their catalytic ability. The CuYO
nanofibers exhibited high catalytic activity and the best hydrogen production rate of 1967.89 mL min
g-cat
at 500 °C. The highly specific surface area of CuYO
nanofibers used in steam reforming reactions could have significant economic and industrial implications. The performance of these CuYO
nanofibers in hydrogen generation could be very important in industries with a global economic impact. Furthermore, the H
production performance increases at higher reaction temperatures.