Hydrogen from bottle-the magic of Pt catalysts for methanol reforming instantly start-up from cold weather

•For the first time, we have developed a methanol reforming system using H2O2/H2O, which can produce hydrogen and start instantly without any external assistance. The fuel has hydrogen content from 4 wt% to 8 wt% depending on the methanol content.•Pt catalysts have a unique effect on the reaction, which can simultaneously activate methanol and H2O2. The preparation parameters have significant influences on the catalysts' performance.•The feature of the strong exothermic reaction conditions makes it possible for further cleanup of the residue CO and makes pure hydrogen from liquid methanol to supply to PEM fuel cell directly.•The catalyst has been tested for more than 100 times of start/stop and show stable performance.

Hydrogen is a clean energy carrier, but does not occur naturally. Here we reported a novel process to get instant hydrogen from a mixture of methanol and dilute hydrogen peroxide. The hydrogen can be obtained instantly once the fuel mixture is in contact with the platinum catalyst without any external heating or any energy input. The catalyst can be started and stopped more than 100 times before a new load of catalyst is required. Pure hydrogen is produced by combining the reforming catalyst with a water gas shift catalyst bed, which is driven by heat from the reforming process. Interestingly we discovered that only platinum catalysts can synergistically activate methanol and hydrogen peroxide to give hydrogen spontaneously. The preparation conditions and impurities have significant effects on the reforming process. This work overcomes the various hurdles of on-board reforming for hydrogen production and provides a way to catalyse the utilization of fuel cells.