• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.105-112
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• 2022

Copper (Cu)-based catalysts have been widely used in a methanol steam reforming (MSR) reaction for hydrogen production for air-independent propulsion (AIP) applications and their good catalytic activities have attracted much attention. However, the agglomeration of the catalytic active site Cu causes deteriorating the catalytic performance and suppression of Cu agglomeration is a crucial issue in the AIP applications that the MSR system is typically operated at 250-300℃ for a long time. R. Sakai et al. recently showed a computational study on the anchoring effect that reduces an agglomeration of active sites by doping in a supporter. In order to present the anchoring effect on 𝛾-Al₂O₃ supported Cu-based catalysts, in this study, the adsorption energies of Cu on X-doped (X=ruthenium, phosphorus, silicon) 𝛾-Al₂O₃ were calculated and Cu adsorption energy decreased due to a change of the electronic structure originated from doping, thereby proving the anchoring effect.