Highly efficient hydrolysis of ammonia borane using ultrafine bimetallic RuPd nanoalloys encapsulated in porous g-C3N4

• Published in: Fuel (Guildford) Vol. 277; p. 118243
• Main Authors: Li, Yong-Ting, Zhang, Xiao-Li, Peng, Zhi-Kun, Liu, Pu, Zheng, Xiu-Cheng
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Kidlington Elsevier Ltd 01.10.2020; Elsevier BV
• Subjects: Alloying effects; Ammonia; Ammonia borane hydrolysis; Bimetals; Boranes; Carbon nitride; Catalysts; Catalytic activity; Dehydrogenation; Durability; Heterogeneous catalysts; Hydrogen generation; Hydrogen production; Hydrogen-based energy; Hydrolysis; Nanoalloys; Nanoparticles; Porous g-C3N4; Room temperature; Ultrafine RuPd nanoalloys; Ultrafines; Porous g-C3N4; Ultrafine RuPd nanoalloys; Hydrogen generation; Heterogeneous catalysts; Ammonia borane hydrolysis
• ISSN: 0016-2361; 1873-7153
• DOI: 10.1016/j.fuel.2020.118243

[Display omitted] •Ultrafine RuPd alloy NPs (~2.5 nm) are evenly encapsulated in a porous g-C3N4.•They exhibit outstanding TOF (948.2 molH2·molCat-1·min-1) for AB hydrolysis.•The corresponding Ea (24.2 kJ mol−1) is very competitive.•A possible mechanism is proposed for the hydrolytic dehydrogenation of AB. The hydrolysis of solid storage compounds including ammonia borane (NH3BH3) is promising for the upcoming hydrogen economy. So, developing highly efficient heterogeneous catalysts for the hydrolysis of ammonia borane is one of the key issues since this reaction is not kinetically feasible at room temperature. In this work, a facile adsorption-in situ reduction method is adopted to stabilize the ultrafine bimetallic RuPd nanoparticles on an ultrathin porous graphite carbon nitride. Due to the synergistic alloying effect, most of the resultant bimetallic Ru1-xPdx/g-C3N4 catalysts possess much higher catalytic activity than the monometallic Ru/g-C3N4 and Pd/g-C3N4 in the hydrolytic dehydrogenation of ammonia borane. Catalyzed by the optimal Ru0.85Pd0.15/g-C3N4, the turnover frequency and the apparent activation energy are 948.2 molH2·molCat-1·min-1 and 24.2 kJ mol−1, respectively, which are much superior to many catalysts previously reported. The high catalytic activity and satisfactory durability endow Ru0.85Pd0.15/g-C3N4 desirable potential in the hydrogen generation from the hydrolysis of chemical storage materials.