Facile Synthesis of Monodispersed Co Nanoparticles on Titanium Carbides for Hydrolysis of Ammonia Borane at Mild Temperature

Herein, we successfully immobilized non-noble Co nanoparticles on titanium carbides (MXene) for the hydrolysis of ammonia borane by a simple co-reduction route. The synthesized Co nanoparticles with the size of 3.2 nm were monodispersed on MXene surface. The Co NPs/MXene exhibited excellent catalytic performance for the hydrolysis of ammonia borane with TOF value of 39.9 molH2 mol−1 cat min−1 at 323 K. The enhanced catalytic property was mainly due to the ultrafine nanoparticles formed on MXene surface. More importantly, the catalytic activity for hydrolysis of ammonia borane did not significantly decrease for up to 6 recycling tests, indicating the remarkable reusability of Co NPs/MXene. Furthermore, this study opens up a new strategy for the preparation of non-noble metallic nanocatalysts with high performance for hydrolysis reactions in practical hydrogen storage systems, thereby fast-tracking the application of ammonia borane in fuel cells.