Hydrogen production by using Ru nanoparticle decorated with Fe3O4@SiO2–NH2 core-shell microspheres

Abstract

Noble metals are commonly used in order to accelerate the NH3BH3 hydrolysis for H2 production as heterogeneous catalysts. The nanoparticles (NPs) of these metals can be applied as active catalysts in fluid reactions. Metal NPs included in the core-shell nanostructures emerged as well-defined heterogeneous catalysts. Additionally, unsupported NPs catalysts can be gathered easily among neighboring NPs and the separation/recovery of these catalysts are not efficient with traditional methods. For this reason, here, silica-shell configuration was designed which was functionalized with a magnetic core and amine groups and Ru NPs were accumulated on Fe3O4@SiO2–NH2 surface for H2 production from NH3BH3. Fe3O4@SiO2–NH2–Ru catalysts demonstrated high catalytic activity as long as it has a hydrogen production rate of 156381.25 mLgcat−1 min−1 and a turnover frequency (TOF) of 617 molH2molcat−1min−1 towards the hydrolysis dehydrogenation of AB at 30 °C. This result is significantly higher than most of the known catalysts.