Ternary NiMo-Bi liquid alloy catalyst for efficient hydrogen production from methane pyrolysis.

Methane pyrolysis (MP) is a potential technology for CO-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% H selectivity and 120 hours of stability.