- Chen, Luning;
- Song, Zhigang;
- Zhang, Shuchen;
- Chang, Chung-Kai;
- Chuang, Yu-Chun;
- Peng, Xinxing;
- Dun, Chaochao;
- Urban, Jeffrey J;
- Guo, Jinghua;
- Chen, Jeng-Lung;
- Prendergast, David;
- Salmeron, Miquel;
- Somorjai, Gabor A;
- Su, Ji
Methane pyrolysis (MP) is a potential technology for CO2-free hydrogen production that generates only solid carbon by-products. However, developing a highly efficient catalyst for stable methane pyrolysis at a moderate temperature has been challenging. We present a new and highly efficient catalyst created by modifying a Ni-Bi liquid alloy with the addition of Mo to produce a ternary NiMo-Bi liquid alloy catalyst (LAC). This catalyst exhibited a considerably low activation energy of 81.2 kilojoules per mole, which enabled MP at temperatures between 450 and 800 Celsius and a hydrogen generation efficiency of 4.05 ml per gram of nickel per minute. At 800 Celsius, the catalyst exhibited 100% H2 selectivity and 120 hours of stability.