Volcanic Ash-Supported Ruthenium Nanoparticles as Effective Catalysts for Hydrogen Production From Ammonia Borane Methanolysis

Abstract

In the increasing search for renewable clean energy, boron-based hydrogen carrier materials offer excellent advantages. Ammonia borane (H3NBH3, AB) is a solid hydrogen-rich molecular crystal material derived from boron mineral. Recently, it has become a remarkable material in the field of hydrogen production due to its high hydrogen content and controlled hydrogen release properties. Herein, the first synthesis, characterization, and catalytic performance of volcanic ash (VA)-grafted ruthenium nanoparticles (Ru(0)NPs) for H2 evolution from methanolysis of AB are reported. Ru(0)NPs supported on VA (Ru(0)NPs@VA) were synthesized and used as a high-performance catalyst in the methanolysis dehydrogenation of AB at room temperature. VA-decorated Ru(0) NPs solid catalytic materials were stable during isolation processing and characterized by FTIR, N2 adsorptiondesorption, ICP-OES, SEM-elemental mapping, SEM, SEM-EDX, XPS, HRTEM, TEM-EDX, TEM, XRD techniques. The results of the analysis the formation of excellent-distributed Ru(0)NPs by an average nanocrystal size of 1.37 +/- 0.52 nm on the VA support surface area, which keeps the host matrices stable. The Ru(0)NPs@VA nanocatalyst rapidly released 3.0 equivalents of hydrogen per mole of AB at 298 K, demonstrating a highly effective nanocatalyst property in the methanolysis dehydrogenation of AB by an TOFinitial value of 50.14 min(-1). VA-grafted Ru (0) NPs can be isolated, bottled, redispersed and reused as a very active nanocatalyst in the methanolysis of AB even at low doses and temperatures. In this study, all experimental details of a new set of kinetic data to determine the rate law of catalytic methanolysis AB are revealed, and the activation parameters (Ea, Delta H/= and Delta S/=) of the rate equation are calculated based on these data.