Ultrafine Ru nanoparticles anchored to porous g-C3N4 as efficient catalysts for ammonia borane hydrolysis

Hierarchical porous g-C 3 N 4 nanosheets are prepared from melamine using NH 4 Cl as dynamic gas templates to anchor the ultrafine Ru nanoparticles (NPs) with a facile adsorption -in situ reduction strategy. The results reveal that 1: 3 is the optimal mass ratio for melamine to NH 4 Cl and the Ru NPs are evenly dispersed in the porous network of g-C 3 N 4 in the corresponding catalysts. Remarkably, the porous catalysts exhibit superior catalytic activity and satisfactory recyclability for ammonia borane (NH 3 -BH 3 , AB) hydrolysis. The corresponding turnover frequency is as high as 122.2 × 10 3 mL H 2 · g Ru -1 · min -1 and the apparent activation energy (35.6 kJ mol −1 ) is competitive. AB hydrolysis is of 1.17-order and near zero-order with respect to the Ru and AB concentrations, respectively. The results demonstrate that the Ru/g-C 3 N 4 catalysts are promising in developing an alternative clean and environmentally friendly energy carrier from the hydrogen storage materials.