Nitrogen/oxygen co-doped graphene bonded nickel particles composite for dehydrogenation of formic acid at near room temperature

Low-cost non-noble metal catalyst for dehydrogenation of formic acid to hydrogen at near room temperature is considered as a key to promoting commercial technology for clean energy. We have constructed reduced graphene oxide (RGO) self-assembly bonded nickel particles for synthesis of graphene nanosheets embedded with nickel nanoparticles architecture Ni@xRGO. Nitrogen and oxygen co-doped graphene facilitates the adsorption of hydrogen protons from formic acid. Electron transfer ability of Ni@xRGO with active sites is enhanced via Ni–C bond in the interface between the RGO nanosheets and nickel particles, which promoted the C–H bond breaking for dehydrogenation of formic acid. The Ni@0.20RGO has excellent catalytic performance for hydrogen production from formic acid at near room temperature (the yield of hydrogen, 240.0 mL g −1  h −1 at 50 °C), comparable to the most active non-noble metal catalysts.