High-surface-area plasmonic MoO3−x: rational synthesis and enhanced ammonia borane dehydrogenation activity. Issue 19 (22nd March 2017) - Yin, Haibo
Abstract : Plasmonic MoO3− x with a high surface area efficiently enhances ammonia borane dehydrogenation activity. Abstract : Well-crystallized, high-surface-area plasmonic MoO3− x was synthesized by combining an evaporation induced self-assembly (EISA) process and a subsequent hydrogen reduction at a certain temperature. The intrinsic anisotropic crystal growth process of tiny MoO3 nuclei to MoO3 nanosheets was successfully inhibited. Detailed characterization by means of XRD, TEM, N2 physisorption, and XPS measurements revealed that the synthesized MoO3− x not only showed a strong localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) under incident light but also had a relatively large specific surface area. The specific surface area ( S BET ) of MoO3− x after reduction at 200 °C was 30.0 m 2 g −1, which was 22.7 and 9.1 times higher than those of commercially available MoO3 and our previously reported MoO3− x nanosheets, respectively. We also demonstrate that such a semiconductor with a large surface area could be used as a highly efficient catalyst that dramatically enhances the dehydrogenation activity for ammonia borane (NH3 BH3 ; AB) under visible light irradiation.