High dehydrogenation of ammonia borane by core–shell heterostructure catalysts formed by carbon template-assisted synthesis

The development of non-noble metal catalysts that exhibit high performance in the dehydrogenation of ammonia borane has been considered a safe and efficient method for hydrogen generation. In this study, a series of CuxCoy alloy nanoparticles with different ratios were highly dispersed on a core–shell microsphere carrier, and the carrier was prepared using carbon spheres as a template. The catalytic activity for H2 from ammonia borane (NH3BH3, AB) hydrolysis was investigated by adjusting the ratio of Cu2+ to Co2+ doping in the catalyst. The Co1Cu1/C@Cu0.76Co2.24O4 core–shell heterostructure catalyst shows excellent catalytic activity with a high turnover frequency (TOF) value of 82.58 molH2 molcat−1 min−1 and a low activation energy (Ea) of 16.06 kJ mol−1. Detailed analysis indicates that the outstanding activity of AB for hydrolytic dehydrogenation could be attributed to the unique core–shell hetero-structures and high dispersion of the CuCo alloy nanoparticles.