Catalytic performance of NiSn alloy for hydrogen production from methanol decomposition

Fan, M.*; Xu, Y.*; Sakurai, Junya*; Demura, Masahiko*; Hirano, Toshiyuki*; Teraoka, Yuden; Yoshigoe, Akitaka 

We have examined the catalytic performance of NiSn for hydrogen production from methanol decomposition. The single-phase NiSn alloy ingot was prepared using a high-frequency furnace. The ingot was mechanically crushed to powders. The powders were sieved to get the samples less than 75 micrometer in size for reaction test. Methanol decomposition was performed in a conventional fixed-bed flow reactor. The characterization of NiSn was carried out by XRD, SEM, BET, and synchrotron XPS in SPring-8. The methanol conversion increased with time indicating that NiSn spontaneously activated during the reaction. It was also found that NiSn shows a high selectivity. The characterization of the samples before and after reaction shows that NiSn phase remained unchanged, and no obvious oxidation of Ni and Sn occurred during reaction, suggesting that NiSn itself might serve as the active species.