Investigation on M@CuOx/C (M=Ru, Rh, Pd and Pt) catalysts prepared by galvanic reduction for hydrogen evolution from ammonia borane

The development of a cost-effective catalyst for hydrogen evolution from ammonia borane is of importance for the application of AB as a hydrogen storage material. In this manuscript, a series of noble metal catalysts M@CuOx/C (M = Ru, Rh, Pd, and Pt) are prepared by the galvanic reduction method. The catalysts are characterized by XRD , TEM , EDS mappings and lines scanning, XPS , HAADF-STEM, and ICP-OES. The noble metal is highly dispersed on the surface of Cu nanoparticles . The morphology of Cu nanoparticles changed according to different metals after the introduction of noble metal and there has an interaction between the noble metal and Cu. The M@CuOx/C is used for the hydrolysis of AB. For the same metal catalyst, the activity of M@CuOx/C is increased by about 3–7 times than the corresponding M/C at 298 K. The Rh shows the highest TOF and lowest activation energy among the four noble metals.