High dehydrogenation of ammonia borane by core–shell heterostructure catalysts formed by carbon template-assisted synthesis

Abstract

The development of non-noble metal catalysts that exhibit high performance in the dehydrogenation of ammonia borane has been considered a safe and efficient method for hydrogen generation. In this study, a series of Cu_xCo_y alloy nanoparticles with different ratios were highly dispersed on a core–shell microsphere carrier, and the carrier was prepared using carbon spheres as a template. The catalytic activity for H₂ from ammonia borane (NH₃BH₃, AB) hydrolysis was investigated by adjusting the ratio of Cu²⁺ to Co²⁺ doping in the catalyst. The Co₁Cu₁/C@Cu_0.76Co_2.24O₄ core–shell heterostructure catalyst shows excellent catalytic activity with a high turnover frequency (TOF) value of 82.58 mol_H2 mol_cat⁻¹ min⁻¹ and a low activation energy (E_a) of 16.06 kJ mol⁻¹. Detailed analysis indicates that the outstanding activity of AB for hydrolytic dehydrogenation could be attributed to the unique core–shell hetero-structures and high dispersion of the CuCo alloy nanoparticles.