Effect of morphology on catalytic performance of colloid Ru for hydrogen generation from H3NBH3 alcoholysis: A comparative study

ABSTRACTColloidal Ru nanoparticles and nanorods stabilized by poly (N-vinyl-2-pyrrolidone) were prepared in n-butanol by solvothermal and microwave-assisted alcohol reduction method, respectively. Both colloidal Ru with different morphology were used to catalytic alcoholysis of ammonia borane (H3NBH3, AB) at room temperature, and their catalytic activities were evaluated by analyzing the H2 generation from the alcoholysis of AB. The results indicated that the catalytic activity of PVP-Ru nanoparticles was almost two times of PVP-Ru nanorods for the alcoholysis of AB at room temperature. The kinetic study demonstrated that the alcoholysis reaction was 0.9 in terms of PVP-Ru nanoparticles concentration, while 1.6 orders in terms of PVP-Ru nanorods concentration. The apparent activation energies of AB alcoholysis catalyzed by PVP-Ru nanoparticles and PVP-Ru nanorods were 15.6 ± 1 kJ/mol and 32.8 ± 1 kJ/mol, respectively. The effects of the morphology on the catalytic performance of PVP-Ru nanoparticles and P...