Silica-Protected Ultrathin Ni3FeN Nanocatalyst for the Efficient Hydrolytic Dehydrogenation of NH3BH3

Transition metal nitrides (TMNs) inevitably aggregate in the high-temperature thermal ammonolysis process, resulting in blocking of the active catalytic sites and serious decreases in their corresponding catalytic performance. Therefore, how to synthesize ultrasmall TMNs with higher exposed unsaturated coordination sites is still a challenge. Herein, ultrathin Ni3FeN (Ni3FeN@SiO2) with the size of approximate to 20 nm and thickness of approximate to 3.0 nm is fabricated by SiO2 protection strategy. The obtained Ni3FeN@SiO2 displays outstanding performance in NH3BH3 hydrolytic dehydrogenation due to the high specific surface area, intrinsic metal-vacancies, and hydrophilic SiO2 layer.