Ultrafine platinum nanoparticles modified on cotton derived carbon fibers as a highly efficient catalyst for hydrogen evolution from ammonia borane

Hydrogen is regarded as the cleanest energy in future. One of the most promising routes for the production of hydrogen is catalytic hydrolysis of ammonia borane due to it is a highly efficient and safe method. Developing efficient catalysts for large-scale industrial application in the hydrolysis of ammonia borane recently is highly demanded. In this work, we designed a facile synthesis strategy that takes advance of the excellent hydrophilic of cotton cellulose fiber that can efficiently adsorb platinum ions on the fiber surface. Then, the platinum ions adsorbed cotton fibers were freeze-dried and carbonized under nitrogen atmosphere to fabricate the ultrafine platinum nanoparticles (Pt NPs) modified catalysts (Pt/CCF). It was found that, the carbonization temperatures greatly influenced the dispersion and the particle size of Pt NPs; under carbonization at 500 degrees C, the obtained Pt(8%)/CCF-500 catalyst has highly dispersed ultrafine Pt NPs. The prepared Pt/CCF catalysts have been tested for the hydrolysis of AB for hydrogen production. And the Pt(8%)/CCF-500 catalyst exhibited excellent catalytic performance under mild reaction conditions. The catalyst exhibits higher catalytic activity (TOF value of 35 mol H-2 mol(-1) Pt min(-1)) and lower activation energy (Ea) value of 39.2 kJ mol(-1) than most of other Pt based catalysts. This simple synthesis method may provide a useful platform for the large-scale application of cotton derived carbon materials supported noble metal catalysts. (C) 2017 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.