A YH3 promoted palladium catalyst for reversible hydrogen storage of N-ethylcarbazole

N-ethylcarbazole (NEC) is a promising liquid organic hydrogen carrier, while sluggish kinetics of hydrogen absorption and desorption restrict its application. To overcome that, a YH3 promoted palladium catalyst Pd/Al2O3-YH3 is developed in this work by taking advantage of the fast reversible hydrogenation and dehydrogenation kinetics of YH3. With the Pd/Al2O3-YH3, NEC can reversibly store 5.5 wt% hydrogen in 4 h below 473 K. The performance is the best compared to that of all the reported catalysts for both hydrogen absorption and desorption. Moreover, there are no gaseous impurities produced and no performance decay during three hydrogen storage cycles. The excellent performance derives from the intrinsic high catalytic activity of Pd/Al2O3 and the promoting effect of YH3 by providing a new hydrogen transfer path, making NEC more attractive for practical application.