Nanoparticle molybdenum dioxide: A highly active catalyst for partial oxidation of aviation fuels

The More Electric Airplane (MEA) concept may be the most innovative development in aviation since the Wright " Flyer" and certainly represents the most transformative change in commercial aviation since the first use of jet engines in 1952. One of the key requirements for enabling the MEA is fuel-flexible solid oxide fuel cell systems that operate directly on logistics fuels such as Jet-A. Of the many fuel cell systems, a solid oxide fuel cell with an internal reforming is most interesting technology for commercial aviation due to its simplicity. In this paper, we show that nanoparticle molybdenum dioxide (MoO₂) synthesized directly from a reducing ethylene glycol/water solution can catalyze the partial oxidation of dodecane (a C-12 hydrocarbon surrogate for Jet-A fuel) at weight-hourly-space-velocities up to 10h^-1. Even at these very high flow rates the MoO₂ nanoparticle catalyst shows a remarkably high fuel conversion of>90% with a hydrogen yield of>70% and an exceptional coking resistance_. Under similar environments, conventional Ni-based catalysts and commercial low surface-area MoO₂ quickly deactivate due to coking. Our results demonstrate that in its nanoparticle form MoO₂ represents a very promising alternative to expensive noble metals for the internal reforming anode of direct Jet-A solid oxide fuel cell and is an important step towards realization of the MEA.