Hydrogen generation from the decomposition of hydrous hydrazine using amorphous NiB nanocatalysts prepared by chemical etching method

Abstract

Hydrous hydrazine (N2H[Formula: see text]O) is considered to be one of the most promising chemicals for hydrogen storage, and the development of high-efficient and noble-metal-free catalysts is of key importance for N2H[Formula: see text]O decomposition to generate hydrogen. In this work, NiZnB nanoparticles (NiZnB NPs) synthesized by co-reduction method were further treated to remove the metal zinc by chemical etching with sodium hydroxide, and the resulting amorphous NiB nanocatalysts (NiB NCs) presented higher specific surface area and hydrogen selectivity than that of common NiB nanoparticles. Experimental results also indicate that heat-treatment of the NiZnB NPs can increase turnover frequency (TOF) but decrease hydrogen selectivity of the NiB NCs. NiB NCs derived from NiZnB NPs heated at 200[Formula: see text]C show TOF and selectivity of 0.72[Formula: see text]h[Formula: see text] and 98.1%, respectively. In addition, reusability of the resulting catalyst was also investigated.