Bimetallic palladium nickel nanoparticles loaded on ammonia-alkalized multi-walled carbon nanotubes for efficient dehydrogenation of formic acid

Abstract

Formic acid is used as a green carrier for hydrogen storage and production. Here, in order to achieve rapid dehydrogenation of formic acid, the catalyst PdNi/OPDA-MWCNTs is synthesized by reducing bimetallic PdNi nanoparticles on o-phenylenediamine (OPDA) modified multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs). Ultrafine metal nanoparticles with a size of 2.6 nm are obtained in the presence of amine groups. The catalyst system Pd_0.7Ni_0.3/OPDA-MWCNTs catalyzes hydrogen production from formic acid in an additive-free environment with excellent activity, reaching the turnover frequency (TOF) value of 1303 h⁻¹ at 323 K. This is comparable to most reported values. In addition, the catalyst maintains good catalytic activity in five-cycle tests under the same conditions.