Hydrogen generation and storage.

© 2011 SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY

© 2011 SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY

Efficient Dehydrogenation of Formic Acid Using an Iron Catalyst.

Hydrogen is one of the essential reactants in the chemical industry, though its generation from renewable sources and storage in a safe and reversible manner remain challenging. Formic acid (FA) is a promising source and storage material in this respect. Prof. Gabor Laurenczy (Head of the GCEE, Group of Catalysis for Energy and Environment; LCOM - Laboratory of Organometallic and Medicinal Chemistry) in collaboration with other researchers presents a highly active iron catalyst system for the liberation of hydrogen from FA. They used in situ nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, kinetic studies, and density functional theory calculations to explain possible reaction mechanisms.

Albert Boddien et al., Science Vol. 333 no. 6050 pp. 1733-1736, DOI: 10.1126/science.1206613 (2011)