Search

Ni/La 2 O 3 nanocatalyst with Pt and Rh content as low as 5 mol%, respectively, is successfully synthesized by a facile co-reduction method in the presence of hexadecyl trimethyl ammonium chloride aqueous solution under ambient atmosphere. Interestingly, the resulted Ni/La 2 O 3 catalyst with low cost exhibits excellent catalytic activity to dehydrogenation of hydrous hydrazine (N 2 H 4 ·H 2 O), producing hydrogen with 100% selectivity at room temperature (298 K), which represents a promising step toward the practical application for N 2 H 4 ·H 2 O system on fuel cells.

CeO x -induced amorphization of CoPt nanoparticles (NPs) is achieved by a facile co-reduction method using sodium borohydride (NaBH 4 ) as the reducing agent at room temperature (298 K) under ambient atmosphere. The investigation results indicate that CeO x plays a critical role in transferring the crystalline CoPt nanoalloy into the amorphous one. To our surprise, the resultant Co 0.65 Pt 0.30 (CeO x ) 0.05 NPs exhibit high catalytic kinetic performance with 72.1% hydrogen (H 2 ) selectivity for the H 2 generation from hydrous hydrazine (N 2 H 4 ) within only a few minute at 298 K. Although complete conversion is not achieved, but the initial turnover frequency value of 194.8 h −1 for the present amorphous catalyst is much higher than that of crystalline one. Moreover, such a highly rapid catalyst may greatly encourage the practical application of hydrous N 2 H 4 as a hydrogen storage material.

Ultrafine and well dispersed CoAuPd nanoparticles grown on a DNA-reduced-graphene-oxide (DNA-rGO) composite have been successfully synthesized using a DNA-directed method. The resultant CoAuPd/DNA-rGO composite exhibits high activity and 100% H2 selectivity toward the dehydrogenation of formic acid without any additive at 298 K.

Amorphous Ni0.9Pt0.1/Ce2O3 nanoparticles with low noble-metal content have been facilely synthesized by a co-reduction route within 10 min at room temperature under ambient atmosphere. The resultant Ni0.9Pt0.1/Ce2O3 nanoparticles were successfully applied as a highly efficient catalyst for rapid and complete conversion of hydrous hydrazine. A high initial turnover frequency value of 28.1 h−1 for Ni0.9Pt0.1/Ce2O3 nanoparticles is achieved with 100% H2 selectivity at 298 K. Moreover, the amorphous Ni0.9Pt0.1/Ce2O3 catalyst obtained due to the addition of Ce2O3 demonstrates much better activity and much lower activation energy than that of the crystalline Ni0.9Pt0.1. The development of the improved performance and low-cost catalyst is a promising step towards the application of hydrous hydrazine as a hydrogen storage material.