Chitosan-Fe3O4 anchored palladium nanoparticles: An efficiently magnetic catalyst for hydrolytic dehydrogenation of ammonia borane

Magnetic chitosan (CS-Fe 3 O 4 ) was synthesized via a co-precipitation method and used as supports to anchor palladium nanoparticles (Pd(0)/CS-Fe 3 O 4 ) by chemical reduction of PdCl 2 with NaBH 4 . The results showed that the nanosized palladium particles were highly dispersed onto CS-Fe 3 O 4 and the resulting Pd(0)/CS-Fe 3 O 4 catalysts exhibited high catalytic activity and good recyclability for the hydrolysis of ammonia borane (NH 3 BH 3 , AB). The turnover frequency (TOF) of the catalysts was as high as 15.0 m o l H 2 · m o l P d − 1 · m i n − 1 at 30 °C and the catalytic activity had not obvious decrease even after eight recycle experiments. The results of kinetic experiments showed that the activation energy of the reaction (E a ) is 35.94 kJ mol −1 . The orders of palladium and AB concentrations in the catalytic reaction were 0.70 and 0.62, respectively.