Ruthenium Supported on Cobalt‐Embedded Porous Carbon with Hollow Structure as Efficient Catalysts toward Ammonia‐Borane Hydrolysis for Hydrogen Production

Abstract

Catalysts with high activity play an indispensable role in ammonia‐borane (AB) hydrolysis for hydrogen production. Supported catalysts are always used because proper support can effectively prevent metal particle agglomeration. In addition, the interaction between support and metal species can further enhance the catalytic activity. Herein, cobalt‐embedded porous carbon with polyhedral structure (CoPCP) is successfully synthesized by one‐step carbonization of a core‐shell structured ZIF‐8@ZIF‐67 composite. As support, Ru nanoparticles are loaded on CoPCP by in situ reduction to obtain Ru/CoPCP catalysts with a special hollow structure, effectively preventing Ru nanoparticles from agglomeration. Moreover, the existence of synergistic effect between Co metal and Ru nanoparticles in Ru/CoPCP catalyst is confirmed by a series of well‐designed control experiments. Both these factors endow the Ru/CoPCP catalyst with high activity and decent stability toward AB hydrolysis. A low activation energy (Ea = 31.25 kJ mol–1) and a high catalytic performance (turnover frequency = 243.4 molH2 molRu–1 min–1) are simultaneously achieved for Ru1/CoPCP‐1000 even with a low amount of Ru (1.88 wt%). This work represents a promising method to prepare the high‐activity catalysts with low content of noble metals for diverse applications in heterogeneous catalysis.

Uniform dispersion of ultrafine ruthenium nanoparticles on nano-cube ceria as efficient catalysts for hydrogen production from ammonia-borane hydrolysis

“…As for Ru 3p shown in Fig. 3(d), the two peaks at 462.6 and 484.2 eV can be ascribed to the presence of Ru-Ru, while the other two peaks at 466.3 and 487.0 eV indicate the formation of Ru-O, 55 which may be caused by oxidation due to the exposure of the sample to air.…”

“…In addition, as the number of cycles is increased, the byproducts of AB hydrolysis would be adsorbed on the surface of ruthenium nanoparticles, which can block some active sites and thus also leads to a reduction of catalytic performance. 55 From the XPS results of the cycled Ru 1 /CeO 2 -H 2 /Ar catalyst aer ve runs (Fig. S2 †), it can be found that the peak belonging to the oxygen vacancies disappeared and the proportion of the area belonging to the Ru-O peak signicantly increased aer ve cycles for catalytic AB hydrolysis, indicating that more ruthenium particles are oxidized to form ruthenium oxides that occupy the oxygen vacancies.…”

Bimetallic PtNi Nanoclusters Supported on Carbon Nanospheres as Catalysts for H2 Production from Dimethylamineborane Hydrolysis

“…To develop a green and sustainable energy policy in the future, much attention has been paid not only to the technical and academic challenges but also to crucial orientation by the social and economic system and a variation in the personal and collective viewpoints toward further energy. − That is to say, one of the most severe issues clearly involves the over-consumption of traditional fossil fuels and man-made global warming due to the rapid growth of human society and reckless emissions of greenhouse gases. − It is highly essential to explore clean energy, such as tidal power, solar power, biopower, wind energy, hydropower, and hydrogen energy, − to reduce the dependency of fossil energy. Among them, hydrogen (H 2 ), a propitious energy source of green, renewable, and carbon-free energy, − has been considered as one of the most promising potential alternatives for fossil carbon (oil, coal, and gas) to address environmental deterioration and the increasing demand of global energy. − …”

Boosting Hydrogen Evolution from Ammonia–Borane Hydrolysis Catalyzed by Poly(N‐Vinyl‐2‐Pyrrolidone)‐Stabilized Ruthenium‐Based Nanoclusters Catalysts

“…However, metal NPs with high surface energy tend to aggregate together to form the bulk metals in the hydrolysis reaction of AB, which inevitably weakens the catalytic activity and stability. To avoid this phenomenon from happening, the appropriate supports (such as carbon materials, [17][18][19] metal oxides, [20,21] metal-organic frameworks [22,23] ) have been adopted, which could effectively disperse metal NPs and thus reduce their agglomeration. Since two-dimensional (2D) materials (e.g., graphene, h-BN, and MoS 2 ) are usually stable and chemically inert, they can provide an adequate protection for the active metal NPs.…”