Catalytic methanolysis and hydrolysis of hydrazine-borane with monodisperse Ru NPs@nano-CeO2 catalyst for hydrogen generation at room temperature

Abstract

Abstract Herein, we report metal catalyzed methanolysis and hydrolysis of hydrazine-borane as a fast hydrogen generation system under mild conditions. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report that a monodisperse Ru NPs@nano-CeO2 catalyst can achieve a complete conversion of N2H4BH3 to H2 with the assistance of both methanolysis and hydrolysis reactions. In order to achieve hydrolysis and methanolysis effectively, monodisperse Ru NPs@nano-CeO2 catalyst have been prepared by modifying the chemical reduction method which is a very simple and efficient method in room conditions. The synthesized Ru NPs@nano-CeO2 catalyst showed excellent catalytic activity, stability, and selectivity in the production of hydrogen by both hydrolysis and methanolysis of the hydrazine-borane. The results reported here also includes (i) identification of the prepared catalyst by using analytical techniques such as XRD, XPS, TEM, HR-TEM, (ii) determination of stoichiometry for methanolysis and hydrolysis reactions, (iii) determination of rate constants and laws for methanolysis and hydrolysis reactions, (iv) determination of kinetic parameters such as enthalpy, entropy and activation energy for methanolysis and hydrolysis reactions.