Graph-theoretic approach to the catalytic-pathway identification of methanol decomposition

Catalytic decomposition of methanol (MD) plays a vital role in hydrogen production, which is the desirable fuel for both proton exchange membrane and direct methanol fuel cell systems. Thus, the catalytic mechanisms, or pathways, of MD have lately been the focus of research interest. Recently, the feasible independent pathways (IPis) have been reported on the basis of a set of highly plausible elementary reactions. Nevertheless, no feasible acyclic combined pathways (APis) comprising IPis have been reported. Such APis cannot be ignored in identifying dominant pathways.