Role of the Support and the Ru Precursor on the Performance of Ru/Carbon Catalysts Towards H2 Production Through NaBH4 Hydrolysis

• Published in: Catalysis letters 2012-07, Vol.142 (7), p.882-888
• Main Authors: Crisafulli, Carmelo, Scirè, Salvatore, Zito, Roberta, Bongiorno, Corrado
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Activated carbon; Adsorbents; Applied sciences; Carbon; Catalysis; Catalysts; Chemistry; Chemistry and Materials Science; Colloidal state and disperse state; Energy; Energy. Thermal use of fuels; Equipments for energy generation and conversion: thermal, electrical, mechanical energy, etc; Exact sciences and technology; Fuel cells; General and physical chemistry; Hydrogen production; Hydrolysis; Industrial Chemistry/Chemical Engineering; Morphology; Nanoparticles; Organometallic Chemistry; Physical and chemical studies. Granulometry. Electrokinetic phenomena; Physical Chemistry; Precursors; Ruthenium trichloride; Surface physical chemistry; Theory of reactions, general kinetics. Catalysis. Nomenclature, chemical documentation, computer chemistry
• ISSN: 1011-372X; 1572-879X
• DOI: 10.1007/s10562-012-0844-y

This paper details NaBH 4 hydrolysis over Ru catalysts supported on activated carbons of different origin and morphology. The influence of two Ru precursors [RuCl 3 or Ru(NO)(NO 3 ) 3 ] was also investigated. It was found that the H 2 production rate strongly depends both on the support characteristics and the Ru precursor, the best performance being obtained using an activated carbon of vegetable origin as the support and Ru(NO)(NO 3 ) 3 as the precursor. It was concluded that the carbon type and the Ru precursor mutually affect the size of the supported Ru nanoparticles with the best combination being the one leading to Ru particles with diameters around 2.5 nm, which is regarded as optimal for NaBH 4 hydrolysis. Graphical Abstract