Mechanochemical synthesis of Pt/TiO2 for enhanced stability in dehydrogenation of methylcyclohexane

Krista Kuutti; Manoj Kumar Ghosalya; Paavo Porri; Jacopo De Bellis; Päivi Jokimies; Harishchandra Singh; Shubo Wang; Graham King; Javier Fernández-Catalá; Ferdi Schüth; Kaisu Ainassaari; Mika Huuhtanen; Marko Huttula; Samuli Urpelainen; Sari Rautiainen

doi:10.1039/d5cy00173k

Mechanochemical synthesis of Pt/TiO₂ for enhanced stability in dehydrogenation of methylcyclohexane

Krista Kuutti
, Manoj Kumar Ghosalya
, Paavo Porri
, Jacopo De Bellis
, Päivi Jokimies
, Harishchandra Singh
, Shubo Wang
, Graham King
, Javier Fernández-Catalá
, Ferdi Schüth
, Kaisu Ainassaari
, Mika Huuhtanen
, Marko Huttula
, Samuli Urpelainen^*
, Sari Rautiainen^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

University of Oulu
Max Planck Society
University of Saskatchewan
University of Alicante

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Scientific › peer-review

3 Citations (Scopus)

136 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Catalytic hydrogenation/dehydrogenation of liquid organic hydrogen carriers (LOHCs), such as methylcyclohexane (MCH), enables versatile and safe transport and storage of hydrogen as a carbon neutral fuel. Supported platinum catalysts are commonly used for the dehydrogenation reaction, however, they often suffer from loss of activity due to coking. Herein, we present mechanochemically synthesised platinum on titania catalyst for the dehydrogenation of MCH, prepared starting only from metallic platinum and titania. Dry mechanochemical catalyst syntheses do not produce waste waters or toxic fumes, which are generated in the deposition of metal precursors by conventional wet synthesis methods. Detailed characterisation of the catalysts revealed that ball milling produced highly dispersed nanoparticles. Furthermore, continuous-flow MCH dehydrogenation experiments showed that the mechanochemically prepared Pt catalyst exhibited improved selectivity and stability compared to a conventional impregnated Pt/TiO₂ catalyst.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	4143-4155
Number of pages	13
Journal	Catalysis Science and Technology
Volume	15
Issue number	14
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1039/d5cy00173k
Publication status	Published - 17 Jun 2025
MoE publication type	A1 Journal article-refereed

Funding

Authors (KK, PP, PJ, MiH, MaH, SU, SR) acknowledge Business Finland for providing funding to perform the research work (funding decisions 50/31/2021, 45774/31/2020, 5667/31/2023). MG, MaH and SU were supported by the NANOCAT project of Kvantum Institute of University of Oulu, University of Oulu & Research Council of Finland Profi 352788 (H2FUTURE). Part of the work was performed at the Canadian Light Source, a national research facility of the University of Saskatchewan, which is supported by the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI), the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC), the National Research Council (NRC), the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), the Government of Saskatchewan, and the University of Saskatchewan. The authors gratefully acknowledge the Center of Materials Analysis (CMA), University of Oulu for the XPS, carbon content, and TEM measurements. JFC thanks MARSALAS21-09 grant funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and European Union NextGeneration EU/PRTR. HS and MaH acknowledge EU/Interreg Aurora/Sustainable Hydrogen project (2023–2025) for funding. We acknowledge MAX IV Laboratory for time on Beamline HIPPIE under Proposal 20221414. Research conducted at MAX IV, a Swedish national user facility, is supported by the Swedish Research council under contract 2018-07152, the Swedish Governmental Agency for Innovation Systems under contract 2018-04969, and Formas under contract 2019-02496. Päivi Aakko-Saksa is acknowledged for insights in the catalyst preparation and Satu Ojala for the Raman measurements.

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

SDG 7 Affordable and Clean Energy

Access to Document

10.1039/d5cy00173kLicence: CC BY

D5CY00173KFinal published version, 2.86 MBLicence: CC BY

Cite this

Kuutti, K., Ghosalya, M. K., Porri, P., De Bellis, J., Jokimies, P., Singh, H., Wang, S., King, G., Fernández-Catalá, J., Schüth, F., Ainassaari, K., Huuhtanen, M., Huttula, M., Urpelainen, S., & Rautiainen, S. (2025). Mechanochemical synthesis of Pt/TiO₂ for enhanced stability in dehydrogenation of methylcyclohexane. Catalysis Science and Technology, 15(14), 4143-4155. https://doi.org/10.1039/d5cy00173k

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abstract = "Catalytic hydrogenation/dehydrogenation of liquid organic hydrogen carriers (LOHCs), such as methylcyclohexane (MCH), enables versatile and safe transport and storage of hydrogen as a carbon neutral fuel. Supported platinum catalysts are commonly used for the dehydrogenation reaction, however, they often suffer from loss of activity due to coking. Herein, we present mechanochemically synthesised platinum on titania catalyst for the dehydrogenation of MCH, prepared starting only from metallic platinum and titania. Dry mechanochemical catalyst syntheses do not produce waste waters or toxic fumes, which are generated in the deposition of metal precursors by conventional wet synthesis methods. Detailed characterisation of the catalysts revealed that ball milling produced highly dispersed nanoparticles. Furthermore, continuous-flow MCH dehydrogenation experiments showed that the mechanochemically prepared Pt catalyst exhibited improved selectivity and stability compared to a conventional impregnated Pt/TiO2 catalyst.",

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Kuutti, K, Ghosalya, MK, Porri, P, De Bellis, J, Jokimies, P, Singh, H, Wang, S, King, G, Fernández-Catalá, J, Schüth, F, Ainassaari, K, Huuhtanen, M, Huttula, M, Urpelainen, S & Rautiainen, S 2025, 'Mechanochemical synthesis of Pt/TiO₂ for enhanced stability in dehydrogenation of methylcyclohexane', Catalysis Science and Technology, vol. 15, no. 14, pp. 4143-4155. https://doi.org/10.1039/d5cy00173k

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T1 - Mechanochemical synthesis of Pt/TiO2 for enhanced stability in dehydrogenation of methylcyclohexane

AU - Kuutti, Krista

AU - Ghosalya, Manoj Kumar

AU - Porri, Paavo

AU - De Bellis, Jacopo

AU - Jokimies, Päivi

AU - Singh, Harishchandra

AU - Wang, Shubo

AU - King, Graham

AU - Fernández-Catalá, Javier

AU - Schüth, Ferdi

AU - Ainassaari, Kaisu

AU - Huuhtanen, Mika

AU - Huttula, Marko

AU - Urpelainen, Samuli

AU - Rautiainen, Sari

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Y1 - 2025/6/17

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AB - Catalytic hydrogenation/dehydrogenation of liquid organic hydrogen carriers (LOHCs), such as methylcyclohexane (MCH), enables versatile and safe transport and storage of hydrogen as a carbon neutral fuel. Supported platinum catalysts are commonly used for the dehydrogenation reaction, however, they often suffer from loss of activity due to coking. Herein, we present mechanochemically synthesised platinum on titania catalyst for the dehydrogenation of MCH, prepared starting only from metallic platinum and titania. Dry mechanochemical catalyst syntheses do not produce waste waters or toxic fumes, which are generated in the deposition of metal precursors by conventional wet synthesis methods. Detailed characterisation of the catalysts revealed that ball milling produced highly dispersed nanoparticles. Furthermore, continuous-flow MCH dehydrogenation experiments showed that the mechanochemically prepared Pt catalyst exhibited improved selectivity and stability compared to a conventional impregnated Pt/TiO2 catalyst.

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