Microwave-assisted synthesis of high performance copper-based catalysts for hydrogen production from methanol decomposition

174High performance copper-based catalysts (CuNiZnO/γ-Al2O3) for hydrogen production from methanol decomposition were successfully synthesized by the method of microwave-assisted thermal hydrolysis of urea. The optimized catalysts, MW-Cu/Ni-95, prepared at 95 °C displayed higher catalytic activity than the commercial catalyst (CM) at 300 °C. After reaction 30 h, it still showed better catalytic activity than the commercial catalyst, exhibiting excellent stability as compared with the commercial catalyst.