Magnetic Co-Pd/C Nanocomposites for Hydrogen Evolution upon the Hydrolytic Dehydrogenation of NH3BH3, NaBH4, and Me2NHBH3

• Published in: ACS applied nano materials 2021-07, Vol.4 (7), p.7479-7485
• Main Authors: Xu, Fuhua, Liu, Xiang
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 2574-0970; 2574-0970
• DOI: 10.1021/acsanm.1c01500

Owing to the high price and rareness of noble metals (including Pd, Rh, and Pt), the design and synthesis of bimetallic nanocomposites, by alloying a noble transition metal with an earth abundant and a cheap metal, for synergistically promoting hydrogen evolution are highly desirable. To meet the requirement, in this work, magnetic Co-Pd/C nanocomposites have been designed and constructed, by simply alloying Pd/C with Co, for synergistically promoting H2 evolution upon the hydrolytic dehydrogenation of NH3BH3, NaBH4, and Me2NHBH3 for the first time. Transmission electron microscopy and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy have shown that magnetic Co-Pd/C nanocomposites have a possible core/shell structure. The Co-Pd/C has shown superior catalytic performance in H2 evolution, with the turnover frequency (TOF) of 263.39 mol­(H2)·molcat –1·min–1, which is 10 times as that of Pd/C (only 26.97 mol­(H2)·molcat –1·min–1). Gratifyingly, Co-Pd/C also provides 20-fold and 7-fold TOF values as that of Pd/C in the hydrolysis of NaBH4 and Me2NHBH3, respectively. Indeed, the activation energy of the hydrolytic dehydrogenation of NH3BH3 has been significantly decreased from 57.92 kJ/mol (Pd/C) to 35.70 kJ/mol (Co-Pd/C).