Hydrolytic dehydrogenation of ammonia borane catalyzed by poly(amidoamine) dendrimers-modified reduced graphene oxide nanosheets supported Ag0.3Co0.7 nanoparticles

Poly( amidoamine) dendrimers-modified reduced graphene oxide nanosheets (PAMAM/rGO) composite was selected as a carrier of heterogeneous Ag0.3Co0.7 nanoparticles in order to obtain an excellent catalyst for ammonia borane (AB) hydrolysis. During the synthetic processes, GO could easily assembled with PAMAM by the electrostatic and hydrogen-bonding interactions. Structural characterization revealed that Ag0.3Co0.7 bimetallic nanoparticles with uniform size distribution of 5 nm are well dispersed on PAMAM/rGO composite architecture. Ag0.3Co0.7 @PAMAM/rGO was found to be a highly active and reusable catalyst in hydrogen generation from the hydrolysis of AB with a turnover frequency value (TOF) of 19.79 mo1(H2) min(-1) mol(M)(-1) at 25.0 + 0.1 degrees C and retained 75.4% of their initial activity with a complete release of hydrogen in five runs. The relatively high TOF value and low apparent activation energy (34.21 kJ mol(-1)) make these Ag0.3Co0.7 @PAMAM/rGO NPs as a high-efficient catalyst for catalytic dehydrogenation of AB facilitating the development of practically applicable energy storage materials. (C) 2018 Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of The editorial office of Journal of Materials Science & Technology.