Modulating Mxene-Derived Ni-Mo_m-Mo_2-mTiC₂T_x Structure for Intensified Low-Temperature Ethanol Reforming

The technology of steam reforming of bioethanol has drawn great attention to green hydrogen production. However, catalyst deactivation has always been a significant obstacle to its applications. Here, a series of yNi/Mo₂TiC₂T_x (yNi/MTC) materials are tailored as robust catalysts for highly efficient long-term ethanol reforming. The results reveal that hydrogen utilization efficiency of up to 95.6% and almost total ethanol conversion can be achieved at 550 °C using a 10Ni/MTC-72h catalyst. Moreover, this catalyst has remarkable stability without obvious deactivation after 100 h of bioethanol reforming, which can be attributed to the formation of a Ni─Mo alloy and the strong interaction of the Ni-Mo_m-Mo_2-mTiC₂T_x structure. The FTIR-MS studies demonstrate the superiority of the 10Ni/MTC-72h catalyst for reinforcing low-temperature bioethanol activation, as verified by the faster conversion of acetate species than with Ni/Al₂O₃. The adsorption energies of ethanol on the surface of Ni (−1.07 eV) and Ni/MTC (−1.46 eV) are compared by density functional theory calculations and show the superiority of the Ni/MTC catalyst for activating ethanol during steam reforming. This study provides new implications for highly stabilized Ni-Mo_m-Mo_2-mTiC₂T_x construction, which is expected to substantially promote the development and application of bioethanol-to-hydrogen production technologies.