Nickel-promoted ruthenium nanocatalysts for controllable hydrogen production from NH3BH3 hydrolysis

The cost-effective RuNi nanoalloys are confined by wheat straw-based carbon (marked as WSC) with the adsorption-NaBH 4 reduction method. WSC with N/O co-doping and a unique micropore-predominant porous structure not only favors the homogeneous and tight dispersion of the RuNi alloys but also improves the hydrophilicity of the resulting catalysts. Furthermore, the different electronegativity induces electron transfer between Ru and Ni, favoring the atomic utilization of noble metal Ru. As a result, the bimetallic catalysts present exciting catalytic activity toward the hydrolysis of ammonia borane (abbreviated as AB, NH 3 BH 3 ). Specially, catalyzed by the optimal Ru 0.50 Ni 0.50 @WSC (10 mg), the hydrogen generation rate (HRG) and turnover frequency (TOF) are separately 59100 mL min −1 g-1 Ru and 254.0 min −1 . In addition, the isotope experiments induce a kinetic isotope effect of 2.84, identifying that the O–H bond cleavage is dominant in this reaction. Noteworthy, the controllable hydrolysis of AB over Ru 0.50 Ni 0.50 @WSC can be easily realized by introducing certain amounts of Zn(NO 3 ) 2 and EDTA-2Na, respectively. This work offers an efficient and relatively low-cost catalyst, as well as deep understanding for the controllable hydrogen release from AB hydrolysis.