Clay based materials due to high ion exchange capacity and thermal stability have found their applications in various areas which includes adsorbents, ion exchangers, drug delivery vehicles, catalytic applications, in fabrication of flame retardant polymeric nanocomposites, oil and gas industries as drilling fluids, friction reducing agents, and cosmetics. However it has been explored very little in the area of electrochemical catalytic applications. Here, in the current investigation ionic interaction between cationic closite-Na+ MMT clay and –SO3H group attached to cellulose nanocrystals during its preparation by sulfuric acid hydrolysis has been used for a thick gel kind of material fabrication. The gel prepared by simple sonication technique has been utilized as catalyst support for Pt/Pd nanoparticles. Pt loaded dried and calcined gel material has been investigated for its application for methanol oxidation in alkaline medium, which showed good catalytic stability in the medium. While the clay support worked as hydroxyl ion adsorber to help in the methanol oxidation reaction mechanism, the carbon material obtained after calcination of CNCs present in the gel helped in improving the conductivity of the support. The role of adsorbed hydroxyl group has been further investigated by linear sweep voltammetry and impedance spectroscopy. Based on these analysis we observed that the adsorbed OH group controls the proceeding of the reaction and the intermediate formed during methanol oxidation gets removed in the potential range 0.1 V – 0.2 V. Porous morphology of the calcined gel sample observed through transmission electron microscopy also helped in the electrocatalytic reaction. With similar morphology Pd loaded calcined gel was prepared and studied for its hydrogen adsorption capacity, which is found to be ≈0.9wt% at 0°C and 20bar pressure for approximate 15% Pd loading.

Cellulose nanocrystal–clay based catalyst support for methanol oxidation and hydrogen storage

Macromolecular Chemistry: The Second Century

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ACS Spring 2020 National Meeting & Expo

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.