Molten GaBi catalyst for low-carbon, cost-effective hydrogen via moderate- temperature methane pyrolysis

Methane pyrolysis is a promising method for CO 2 -free H 2 production. While conventional solid catalysts suffer from deactivation due to carbon product deposition, molten metal catalysts offer continuous operation for long-term stability by allowing carbon to float on the liquid surface. However, they typically require extreme temperatures above 900 °C to achieve a sufficient H 2 product yield, necessitating the development of catalysts with high activity at lower temperatures. Herein, we present a molten GaBi catalyst that is effective for methane pyrolysis at moderate temperatures of 500–800 °C. The Ga 0.11 Bi 0.89 alloy exhibited the lowest activation energy (67.2 kJ/mol) among reported molten catalysts and maintained stable hydrogen production for 158 h at 800 °C. Ab initio molecular dynamics calculations verified that the exceptional performance originates from the simultaneous sup…