Ru nanoparticles supported on MIL-53(Cr, Al) as efficient catalysts for hydrogen generation from hydrolysis of ammonia borane

For the first time, ultrafine Ru nanoparticles are successfully deposited on MIL-53(Cr) and MIL-53(Al) by using a simple liquid impregnation strategy and then characterized the structure, size, composition and specific area of the catalysts with different Ru loading by XRD, TEM, EDX, ICP-AES, XPS and BET. Their catalytic activities had been examined in ammonia borane hydrolysis to generate hydrogen gas. The results show that the as synthesized 2.65 wt% Ru@MIL-53(Cr) and 2.59 wt% Ru@MIL-53(Al) exhibit the highly catalytic activity, owing to the uniform distribution of Ru nanoparticles and bi-functional effects between Ru nanoparticles and the host of MIL-53. The turn over frequency (TOF) values of the Ru@MIL-53(Cr) and Ru@MIL-53(Al) catalysts are 260.8 and 266.9 mol H-2 min(-1) (mol Ru)(-1) and the activation energies (Ea) are determined to be 28.9 and 33.7 kJ mol(-1), respectively. Moreover, the two catalysts exhibit satisfying durable stability after five cycles for the hydrolytic dehydrogenation of ammonia borane. Copyright (C) 2016, Hydrogen Energy Publications, LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.