Ru Nanoparticles on Pr2O3 as an Efficient Catalyst for Hydrogen Production from Ammonia Decomposition

Abstract Development of efficient catalysts for ammonia decomposition is crucial for hydrogen production from ammonia. Herein, Ru nanoparticles (NPs) highly dispersed on Pr 2 O 3 (Ru/Pr 2 O 3 ) were prepared and investigated as catalyst for ammonia decomposition reaction. Under relatively high weight hourly space velocity (WHSV = 30,000 mL g cat −1  h −1 ), the Ru/Pr 2 O 3 achieves a H 2 production rate of 20.9 mmol g cat −1  min −1 at 450 °C, which is superior to Ru/Pr 6 O 11 and many other typical oxides supported Ru catalysts. Detailed characterization results demonstrate that Pr 2 O 3 has high density of basic sites, abundant oxygen vacancies, and strong interaction with Ru, which can modulate electronic properties of Ru NPs and enhance the intrinsic activity of the catalyst, making the catalyst highly active for ammonia decomposition. Moreover, the Ru/Pr 2 O 3 catalyst also exhibits excellent stability and can maintain its high activity for over 100 h. The use of Pr 2 O 3 as support offers opportunity to improve the catalytic performance of Ru-based catalysts for ammonia decomposition. Graphic Abstract The high density of basic sites, abundant oxygen vacancies of Pr 2 O 3 , and the strong metal–support interaction effectively promote the electron donation to Ru nanoparticles, enabling the superior catalytic performance of Ru/Pr 2 O 3 for ammonia decomposition.