• Journal of Hydrogen and New Energy
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.15-20
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• 2015

During the liquefaction of hydrogen, the ortho hydrogen is converted into the para form with heat release that evaporates the liquefied hydrogen into the gaseous one backwards. The ortho-para conversion catalysts are usually used during liquefaction to avoid such boil-off. In order to compare and analyze the performance of the ortho-para hydrogen conversion catalysts, in-situ FT-IR device was designed and manufactured to measure the para hydrogen conversion rate in real-time. $LaFeO_3$ and $La_{0.7}Sr_{0.3}Cu_{0.3}Fe_{0.7}O_3$ perovskite catalysts were prepared by the citrate sol-gel method and their spin conversion characteristics from ortho to para hydrogen were investigated by in-situ FTIR spectroscopy at 17K. It was found that the spin conversion was affected by surface area, particle size, and crystallite size of the catalysts. Thus, the $La_{0.7}Sr_{0.3}Cu_{0.3}Fe_{0.7}O_3$ perovskite catalyst that had higher surface area, higher crystallite size, and smaller particle size than $LaFeO_3$ showed the better spin conversion property of 32.3% at 17K in 120min interaction with the perovskite catalysts.