Nitrogen-Decorated Porous Carbon Supported AgPd Nanoparticles for Boosting Hydrogen Generation from Formic Acid

Formic acid (FA) decomposition to yield molecular H-2 is a promising approach in hydrogen economy. Design of selective, efficient catalysts for dehydrogenation of formic acid remains a challenging topic. Here, nitrogen-doped porous carbon (NPC) nanosheets were fabricated with glucose as carbon source and g-C3N4 as both the nitrogen source and self-sacrificial template. Highly dispersed AgPd nanoparticles were supported on NPC successfully by a simple liquid impregnation approach. The optimized catalyst Ag1Pd9@NPC exhibits high catalytic activity (total turnover frequency up to 3000 h(-1)) and 100 % hydrogen selectivity for the dehydrogenation reaction of FA at 50 degrees C. Our study demonstrated that the synergistic effects between the nitrogen-doped carbon nanosheets support and AgPd nanoparticles play a pivotal role for the efficient catalytic dehydrogenation of formic acid.