Highly efficient hydrogen generation from hydrazine borane via a MoOx-promoted NiPd nanocatalyst

Abstract

Hydrazine borane (N2H4BH3) has been considered as a promising chemical hydrogen storage material in recent years for its high hydrogen content (15.4 wt%), easy preparing, and good stability. Designing highly efficient and selective catalysts for realizing the hydrogen evolution from N2H4BH3 is highly attractive but still remains challenging. In this work, NiPd nanoparticles (NPs) modified with MoOx have been readily synthesized via a co-reduction route at room temperature and served as highly efficient catalysts toward hydrogen generation from N2H4BH3 in aqueous solution. Compared to the pure Ni0.6Pd0.4 NPs, the obtained Ni0.6Pd0.4-MoOx catalyst exhibits much higher catalytic performances in dehydrogenation of N2H4BH3 at 323 K, providing a total turnover frequency (TOF) value of 405 h−1 and almost 100% hydrogen selectivity. The improved catalytic activity of NiPd-MoOx catalyst may be attributed to the small particles size and increased electron density of NiPd as well as the strong basic sites of NiPd NPs induced by the MoOx dopant. The facile synthesis of high-performance and cost-effective of metal NPs catalysts is of great significance for the development of N2H4BH3 as a promising hydrogen storage material.