Magnetic field induced synthesis of amorphous CoB alloy nanowires as a highly active catalyst for hydrogen generation from ammonia borane

Abstract

CoB nanowires are prepared by a facile process free of any template or capping agent. The cleanly-surfaced CoB nanowires exhibit high catalytic activity in hydrolysis of ammonia borane, and the turnover frequency value is 4.88LH2min−1gcatalyst−1, which is significantly higher than those of recently reported CoB nanocatalysts. The apparent activation energy of catalytic hydrolysis of ammonia borane is as low as 16.2kJmol−1, hinting the high catalytic activity of the CoB nanowires. The high catalytic performance and good recoverability make the CoB nanowires a strong catalyst candidate in the hydrolysis of ammonia borane for hydrogen generation.