Formic acid dehydrogenation attained by Pd nanoparticles-based catalysts supported on MWCNT-C3N4 composites

In this study, we developed Pd nanoparticles-based catalysts supported on composites formed by multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) and graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) in various proportions, for their use in the dehydrogenation of formic acid in the liquid phase. It was observed that the composition of the support determined the average size of the Pd nanoparticles as well as their electronic properties, which ultimately affected the performance of Pd/MWCNT-C3N4 catalysts. Among assessed, the catalyst with 63 wt.% of C3N4 exhibited the best activity, with an initial TOF value of 4258 h-1 calculated based on the surface Pd atoms.The present work was financed by the MICINN, FEDER (RTI2018-095291-B-I00). MNG thanks the Plan GenT project from GV (CDEIGENT / 2018/027) for the financial support. DST thanks MICINN for the “Juan de la Cierva” contract (IJCI-2016-27636), and the Vicerrectorado de Investigación y Transferencia de Conocimiento de la Universidad de Alicante (GRE19-16)