Simple synthesis of Cu2O–CoO nanoplates with enhanced catalytic activity for hydrogen production from ammonia borane hydrolysis

Abstract

The development of inexpensive and high performing catalysts for ammonia borane (NH3BH3) hydrolysis is crucial for hydrogen production. In our research, a high-performance plate-like Cu2O–CoO nanocomposite catalyst for NH3BH3 hydrolysis has been developed for the first time. In the hydrolytic reaction, both Cu2O and CoO are separately inactive, while Cu2O–CoO nanoplates show a high turnover frequency of 34.1 molhydrogen min−1 molcat−1, which is attributed to the synergistic effect between Cu2O and CoO. It is interesting to discover that the induction time for the hydrolytic reaction is reduced to null when a small amount of Cu2O is introduced into CoO. The reaction kinetics of NH3BH3 hydrolysis catalyzed by Cu2O–CoO is also investigated. This work may provide other researchers some valuable insights into designing inexpensive and synergistic catalysts with enhanced catalytic activity for NH3BH3 hydrolysis for hydrogen production.