N-doped mesoporous carbon embedded Co nanoparticles for highly efficient and stable H2 generation from hydrolysis of ammonia borane

The highly efficient yet persistent hydrogen generation catalyzed by heterogeneous non-noble metal catalysts is emerging extensive application prospect in energy catalysis and transformation fields. Regrettably, the activity and stability of such catalysts often become the huge stumbling blocks for the catalytic hydrolysis of ammonia borane (NH3BH3) to produce hydrogen. Herein, we report a facile and effective in-situ mosaic strategy for preparing non-noble metal and nitrogen co-doped mesoporous carbon catalysts, which feature homogeneously embedded, different sized metal nanoparticles as well as highly tunable nitrogen contents and types. Experimental results indicate that the Co@NMC-800-0.5 catalyst exhibits the highest catalytic activity for the hydrolysis of NH3BH3 among all the synthesized catalysts, which can be attributed to the superhigh surface area, pore volume and large pore size (1044 m(2)/g, 2.131 cm(3)/g, 7.5-13.6 nm) of the support, as well as the modified electronic structure and chemical microenvironment of the metallic Co NPs. More practically, the Co@NMC-800-0.5 catalyst manifests a higher recyclability (up to reuse 10 times without significant loss of its catalytic activity) than those from directly supported Co NPs on N-doped mesoporous carbon, implying a superior recycling stability in the catalytic reaction.