Highly dispersed CuCo nanoparticles supported on reduced graphene oxide as high-activity catalysts for hydrogen evolution from ammonia borane hydrolysis

Abstract

Hydrogen has been considered one of the best energy carriers to satisfy the increasing demand for clean and renewable energy supply. In this paper, a series of copper-based (CuCo, CuNi, and CuFe) nanoparticles supported on reduced graphene oxide (rGO) were synthesized via a facile one-pot chemical reduction route, and their catalytic performance on hydrogen evolution from ammonia borane (NH₃BH₃, AB) hydrolysis at room temperature was studied. The results revealed that the Cu_0.2Co_0.8 nanoparticles (~ 2.1 nm) on rGO exhibited the highest activity, and Co nanoparticles (~ 3.9 nm) on rGO also displayed the excellent performance. Among all the as-prepared Cu_0.2Co_0.8/rGO catalysts, Cu_0.2Co_0.8/rGO with 48 wt% nanoparticles exhibits the highest activity with the initial hydrogen production rate values as high as 50.6 mol H₂ mol_metal⁻¹ min⁻¹, superior to the majority of Cu-based non-noble metal catalysts. The excellent performance could be attributed to the well dispersion of CuCo nanoparticles on reduced graphene oxide.

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