Active 3D Pd/graphene aerogel catalyst for hydrogen generation from the hydrolysis of ammonia-borane

In this work, a novel three dimensional (3D) Pd/graphene aerogel hybrid was successfully synthesized and characterized. The preparation process of the Pd/graphene aerogel was also discussed systematically. Experimental results indicated that this kind of 3D Pd/graphene aerogel hybrid exhibited excellent catalytic activity on the ammonia borane  hydrolysis to release hydrogen with the turnover frequency value of 9.70 mo l H 2 mo l metal − 1 mi n − 1 $\mathrm{mo}{\mathrm{l}}_{{\mathrm{H}}_{\mathrm{2}}}{\mathrm{mo}{\mathrm{l}}_{\mathrm{metal}}}^{-1}\mathrm{mi}{\mathrm{n}}^{-1}$ , and activation energy E a value of 30.82 kJ/mol, which is higher than that of 2D Pd/RGO and original Pd nanoparticles . Furthermore, the abundant defects of graphene aerogel support can transfer the electrons of Pd nanoparticles to graphene aerogel due to the metal-support interaction, which is beneficial to the ammonia borane hydrolysis reaction . In addition, the pore-rich 3D Pd/graphene aerogel has offered huge effective reacting acreages for ammonia borane hydrolysis, which is helpful for its reusability .