Cu-based methanol steam reforming catalyst supported by heat conduction enhanced GO+UiO-66 composite MOF material for long-term stable hydrogen production

Cu-based methanol steam reforming (MSR) catalysts are generally facing the fatal problems of easy sintering at high temperatures and poor long-term stability. In this study, we synthesized a series of Cu-based MSR catalysts supported by pure UiO-66 MOF and GO + UiO-66 composite materials with varying GO oxidation degrees and mass fractions through conventional thermal solvent impregnation. Comprehensively analysis revealed that both the specific surface area and thermal conductivity of the Cu@GO + UiO-66 catalysts exhibited positive correlations with those of their corresponding support materials. The optimal-performing [email protected]  wt%GO-0.3+UiO-66 catalyst demonstrated exceptional MSR catalyst performance, achieving 98.50 % methanol conversion at 300 °C with an inlet flow rate of 0.014 ml/min (4.18 h −1 ), while maintaining remarkably low CO selectivity (2.02 %) and high hydrogen productivity (6.82mmol/(min·g)). It also showed outstanding stability with only 10.38 % and 8.06 % decrease in methanol conversion and hydrogen productivity after continuous operation of 96 h. The excellent catalytic performance and stability were attributed to the significant and well-dispersed Cu loading (28.04 wt%), the high specific surface area of 128.83 m 2 /g (BET) and the enhanced thermal conductivity of 0.80W/(m·K) which were achieved through the use of the modified-0.01 wt%GO-0.3+UiO-66 support. Moreover, a minor amount of GO in the support was conducive to the formation of Cu + , and the abundant oxygen vacancies inside the catalyst could further stabilize the Cu + active sites, resulting in the formation of Cu–Zr-O x interfacial structures and the strong interaction between Cu species and the support, which effectively enhanced the catalytic performance and stability of the catalyst.