An Update on Formic Acid Dehydrogenation by Homogeneous Catalysis

Chao Guan; Yupeng Pan; Tonghuan Zhang; Manjaly J Ajitha; Kuo-Wei Huang

doi:10.1002/asia.201901676

An Update on Formic Acid Dehydrogenation by Homogeneous Catalysis

Chem Asian J. 2020 Apr 1;15(7):937-946. doi: 10.1002/asia.201901676. Epub 2020 Feb 25.

Authors

Chao Guan¹, Yupeng Pan^{1

2}, Tonghuan Zhang^{1

3}, Manjaly J Ajitha¹, Kuo-Wei Huang¹

Affiliations

¹ KAUST Catalysis Center and Division of Physical Sciences and Engineering, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Thuwal, 23955-6900, Saudi Arabia.
² Shenzhen Grubbs Institute, Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech), Shenzhen, 518055, P. R. China.
³ Lab of Computational Chemistry and Drug Design State Key Laboratory of Chemical Oncogenomics, Peking University Shenzhen Graduate School, Shenzhen, 518055, P. R. China.

PMID: 32030903
DOI: 10.1002/asia.201901676

Abstract

Formic acid (FA) has been extensively studied as one of the most promising hydrogen energy carriers today. The catalytic decarboxylation of FA ideally leads to the formation of CO₂ and H₂ that can be applied in fuel cells. A large number of transition-metal based homogeneous catalysts with high activity and selectivity have been reported for the selective FA dehydrogentaion. In this review, we discussed the recent development of C,N/N,N-ligand and pincer ligand-based homogeneous catalysts for the FA dehydrogenation reaction. Some representative catalysts are further evaluated by the CON/COF assessment (catalyst on-cost number)/(catalyst on-cost frequency). Conclusive remarks are provided with future challenges and opportunities.

Keywords: formic acid; homogeneous catalysis; hydrogen energy carrier.

Publication types

Review

Grants and funding

King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST)