ZIF-67 template-assisted porous carbon based Ru-Co synergistic effect for efficient NH3BH3 hydrolysis & 4-nitrophenol reduction: Effect of morphology and pore structure adjustment

Abstract

Herein, dodecahedron, concave cube with a cavity and leaf-like ZIF were prepared through water hydrogen bond induced coordination structure engineering. MOF-derived C materials, with feature of generally maintained ZIF morphology, adjustable mesoporous structure and in situ N doping, were constructed with simple pyrolysis under N2 and phosphoric acid etching strategies. Ru loaded ZIF template-assisted mesoporous carbon materials were utilized for the ammonia borane hydrolysis and p-nitrophenol reduction. Up to 1031 min−1 TOF in ammonia borane hydrolysis and as high as 1.602 min−1p-nitrophenol reduction efficiency could be achieved over Ru loaded dodecahedron ZIF-67 template-assisted mesoporous carbon. Above excellent catalytic performance should be ascribed to the partial retained coordination structure engineering based catalytic active center optimization, the phosphoric acid etching assisted mesoporous structure construction for hydrophilicity and mass transfer promotion, as well as the Ru–Co synergistic structure induced charge transfer improvement.