Construction of CuCo bimetallic nanoparticles on perovskite oxide LaFeO3 for efficient hydrogen production from ammonia borane hydrolysis

Abstract

Ammonia borane hydrolysis is a feasible strategy for providing sustainable and clean hydrogen fuel, but it remains a great challenge. In this work, CuCo nanoparticles (NPs) were successfully immobilized on the perovskite oxide LaFeO₃ surface via the facile wet-reduction method. The CuCo NPs were well dispersed on the LaFeO₃ surface. Therefore, the as-synthesized Cu_0.4Co_0.6/LaFeO₃ nanocatalyst displayed excellent catalytic activity for ammonia borane (AB) hydrolysis under mild conditions, and the corresponding turnover frequency (TOF) reached as high as 59 mol_H2 mol_cat⁻¹ min⁻¹ at 323 K, which is even comparable to most of the heterogeneous non-noble catalysts reported under similar conditions. Such striking catalytic kinetics are mainly attributed to the LaFeO₃ support induced by strong electronic metal–support interaction, which facilitates the O–H bond dissociation and improves the kinetics of AB hydrolysis.