Enhancing effect of Mo2C MXene and Ru nanoparticles for efficient hydrogen production from ammonia borane

The exploitation of high-performance catalysts is essential for practical application of hydrogen production technology by ammonia borane (AB) hydrolysis. In this work, we reported an uncomplicated approach to exploit high-performance catalysts for hydrogen production from AB hydrolysis. Using the reducibility of AB, the Ru 0 /Mo 2 C MXene catalyst was synthesized using Mo 2 C MXene as carrier to hydrogen production from AB hydrolysis. The combination of Mo 2 C MXene and Ru nanoparticles exhibited remarkable catalytic performance. The TOF value was 868.6 min −1 and the hydrogen production rate reached as high as 210,464 mL min −1 g Ru −1  at 298 K. Moreover, the Ru 0 /Mo 2 C MXene catalyst showed good durability and continuously produce hydrogen for more than 4 h with a turnover number (TON) of 41293. Characterization analysis revealed that Mo 2 C MXene regulated the coordination environment of Ru, forming electron-rich Mo 2 C MXene and electron-deficient Ru sites. And excellent catalytic activity is benefiting from the enhanced interaction between Mo 2 C MXene and Ru nanoparticles, promoting the effective activation and dissociation of the reactants, which resulted in the improvement of the performance of AB hydrolysis. This work offers an innovative approach to synthesize efficient AB hydrolysis catalysts for hydrogen production.