Ultrasmall Ru Nanoclusters on Nitrogen‐Enriched Hierarchically Porous Carbon Support as Remarkably Active Catalysts for Hydrolysis of Ammonia Borane. Issue 21 (25th September 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Zhang, Lei; Wang, Yingying; Li, Jinglong; Ren, Xueying; Lv, Hao; Su, Xingsong; Hu, Yichen; Xu, Dongdong; Liu, Ben
• Is Part Of: ChemCatChem. Volume 10:Issue 21(2018)
• Page Start: 4910
• Page End: 4916
• Publication Date: 2018-09-25
• Subjects: Ru Nanoclusters -- Hierarchically Porous Carbon -- Dehydrogenation of Ammonia Borane -- Nitrogen-Enriched; Catalysis -- Periodicals; 541.39505
• DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201801192
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1867-3880

Abstract

Abstract: The development of the highly active nanocatalysts for effective hydrogen (H2 ) production is of great significance for its practical applications in fuel cells. Herein, we reported a facile and scale‐up synthetic methodology to grow in situ the remarkably active nanocatalysts of ultrasmall Ru nanoclusters on nitrogen (N)‐enriched hierarchically macroporous‐mesoporous carbon supports (Ru@hPCN). The resultant Ru@hPCN combines structural and chemical merits of well‐dispersed 0.7‐nm Ru nanoclusters, N‐enriched functional surface and 3D hierarchically porous framework, all of which synergistically boost the catalytic performance toward the hydrolysis of ammonia‐borane (AB). An unprecedented activity with a turnover frequency of 1850 min −1 was achieved for the Ru@hPCN, which was 6.0 folds over that of commercialized Ru/C catalyst. Mechanism studies showed that the remarkably enhanced activity can be ascribed to the easier dissociation of electropositive H δ+ from H2 O and the breakage of the B−N bonds as well as favorable mass transport in the Ru@hPCN during AB hydrolysis. Abstract : Remarkably active : Ultrasmall Ru nanoclusters are grown in situ on hierarchically macroporous‐mesoporous nitrogen‐enriched carbon (Ru@hPCN) using a facile and scalable synthetic methodology. As a result of the ultrasmall size of Ru nanoclusters, the hierarchically porous framework and nitrogen‐functional surface, Ru@hPCN has a remarkably enhanced catalytic activity for the hydrolysis of ammonia borane.