Feb 2023
The demand for harmless and efficient energy sources is remarkably expanding, particularly after the raised awareness of global warming, greenhouse gas emissions, immense fossil fuels consumption, etc. Formic acid is considered a potential candidate as an energy carrier for reversible hydrogen storage through its decomposition to hydrogen (H2) and carbon dioxide (CO2) in the presence of suitable catalysts. However, a selective and efficient decomposition of the formic acid using classical heterogeneous catalysis is still challenging due to most heterogenous catalysts which are known to be ill defined. A promising heterogeneous approach towards formic acid dehydrogenation using a ruthenium PN3P-pincer complex, [Ru-H(CO)(tBuPN3P)] (I), immobilized on fibrous silica nanosphere, KCC-1, with a strong Lewis acid character [(≡Si–O–Si≡)(≡Si–O–)2Al–H] is reported. The resulting heterogeneous catalyst, [Ru(H)(CO)(tBuPN3P)]@[(≡Si–O–Si≡)(≡Si–O–)2Al–H] (III), has been fully characterized by advanced solid-state characterization techniques. In this compound aluminum is tetrahedrally coordinated. It is a single site catalyst which exhibits a good stability towards water, high pressure, and high temperature as well as good activity in formic acid dehydrogenation. An excellent turnover number of 600,000 and a recyclability of up to 45 cycles was observed.
Layal Yaacoub is PhD student in Chemistry supervised by Prof. Kuo-Wei Huang, currently working on the immobilization of PN3P pincer complexes on silica supports ( KCC, SiO2, etc) via Surface Organometallic Chemistry (SOMC) procedures and protocols. The immobilized catalyst is used as heterogeneous catalyst for formic acid dehydrogenation reaction.
She joined KAUST in 2018 as a visiting student to learn about Surface Organometallic Chemistry (SOMC) and heterogeneous catalysis in Prof. Jean-Marie Basset’s group.
She got a masters degree in refining and hydrocarbons technologies from the Lebanese University.