Hydrogen catalyst analysis

Hydrogen catalysts are critical for enhancing the efficiency of hydrogen production, storage, and utilization. Their roles span several technologies:

• Electrolysis: Platinum and iridium oxide catalysts split water into hydrogen and oxygen
• Photocatalysis: Titanium dioxide-based systems harness sunlight for hydrogen production
• Steam reforming: Nickel catalysts convert methane into hydrogen
• Fuel cells: Platinum and nickel enable the electrochemical reaction between hydrogen and oxygen
• Industrial Uses: Catalysts drive processes such as ammonia synthesis and hydrocracking

Key components of a hydrogen-based economy are:

Hydrogen production

Technologies:

• Conventional: Steam methane reforming (SMR) produces H₂ and CO₂
• Green Alternative: Electrolysis powered by renewable energy creates clean "green hydrogen"

Materials:Adsorbents, membranes, catalysts 

Measurement Goals: 

• Maximize catalyst lifetime and optimize activity and dispersion 
• Optimize adsorption/desorption cycles 
• Determine CO₂ adsorption 
• Determine membrane pore sizes

Hydrogen Storage

Technologies

Hydrogen can be stored as:

• Compressed gas
• Liquefied hydrogen
• Chemically bonded (metal hydrides, LOHCS, MOFs, zeolites, carbon)

Materials: Adsorbents, catalysts

Measurement Goals:

• Evaluate H₂ adsorption performance
• Study catalyst efficiency and durability

Hydrogen applications

Technologies

Hydrogen is versatile:

• Used in fuel cells for electricity generation
• Burned for industrial heat
• Acts as a reductant in metal production

Materials: Membranes, catalysts, adsorbents

Measurement Goals:

• Characterize the catalyst active area via chemisorption
• Optimize membrane pore structure
• Study fuel cell performance and efficiency

Epsilon 1

• Rapid non-destructive elemental analysis of catalysts, supports, and adsorbents
• Monitoring elemental composition for process optimization and quality control
• Analyzing metal loading, homogeneity, dispersion, and contamination in advanced materials

3Flex

• High performance adsorption analyzer for measuring surface area, pore size, and volume
• Understand absorbent process cost using isoteric heat of adsorption
• Optimize pore size to maximize uptake capacity

• AutoChem - utilizes dynamic techniques to characterize the materials' active sites
• 3Flex - offers physisorption and static/dynamic chemisorption for characterizing catalysts and their supports
• ICCS - provides in-situ characterization to understand the effect of reaction conditions on the catalyst
• Flow Reactor – benchtop reactor studies to understand and optimize catalyst performance
• Aeris and Empyrean XRD - high-resolution crystallography for nanoparticle size
• Mastersizer and Zetasizer – measure particle size and zeta potential
• Epsilon Xline - investigate elemental composition homogeneity in catalyst-coated membranes

• 3Flex - high-performance adsorption analyzer for measuring surface area, pore size, and volume
• BreakThrough Analyzer (BTA) - precise characterization of adsorbent or membrane under process-relevant conditions
• AutoPore - mercury porosimetry analysis permits detailed porous material characterization
• AccuPore – capillary flow porometry analyzes throughpore sizes in membranes
• HPVA - static volumetric method to obtain high-pressure adsorption and desorption isotherms