Study on the support effect and structure–activity relationship of cobalt-based hydrogen production catalysts by ammonia reforming

Abstract To break through the bottleneck in hydrogen storage and transportation and advance the industrial application of the "ammonia-hydrogen" energy route, this study focuses on the carrier effect of cobalt-based non-precious metal ammonia decomposition catalysts. Through the deposition-precipitation method, cobalt-based catalysts loaded on different oxide carriers (CeO 2 , La 2 O 3 , SiO 2 , etc.) were prepared. Combined with XRD, TEM, XPS and other methods for characterization, the regulatory mechanism of the physical and chemical properties of the carriers on the structure and ammonia decomposition performance of the catalysts was systematically explored, and kinetic analysis and stability tests were carried out. The activity test shows that the chemical effect of the carrier has a much greater impact on the catalytic efficiency than the physical specific surface area. The cobalt-based catalyst loaded on nano CeO 2 (Co/CeO 2 (N)) performed the best, with an ammonia conversion rate of 46.3% at 450℃ and approaching complete decomposition (94.2%) at 550℃, significantly superior to traditional Al 2 O 3 and TiO 2 carrier catalysts. This research clarifies the correlation between carrier properties and the structure-activity relationship of cobalt-based catalysts, and confirms that nano CeO 2 can enhance catalytic performance through electronic regulation and the synergistic effect of basic sites, providing a theoretical foundation and technical support for the design and development of low-cost, high-stability ammonia decomposition catalysts.