Simple and efficient synthesis of a nano-catalyst with an excellent catalytic property for hydrogen generation from hydrolysis of dimethyl amine-borane (DMAB) is a missing piece. Herein, effective and recycled palladium (Pd) nanoparticles (NPs) supported on soft nitriding porous carbon (NPC) are fabricated and applied for DMAB hydrolysis. It is discovered that the soft nitriding via a low-temperature urea-pretreatment induces abundant nitrogen-containing species on the NPC support, thus promoting the affinity of the Pd precursor and hindering the agglomeration of formed Pd NPs onto the NPC surface during the preparation process. Surface-clean Pd NPs with a diameter of sub-2.0 nm deposited on the NPC support (Pd/NPC) exhibit an outstanding catalytic performance with a turnover frequency (TOF) of 2758 h⁻¹ toward DMAB hydrolysis, better than many previous reported Pd-based catalysts. It should be emphasized that the Pd/NPC also possesses a good stability without an obvious decrease in catalytic activity for DMAB hydrolysis in five successive recycling runs. This study provides a facile but efficient way for preparing high-performance Pd catalysts for catalytic hydrogen productions.

The development of highly-efficient heterogeneous supported catalysts for catalytic hydrolysis of ammonia borane to yield hydrogen is of significant importance considering the versatile usages of hydrogen. Herein, we reported the in situ synthesis of AgCo bimetallic nanoparticles supported on g-C₃N₄ and concomitant hydrolysis of ammonia borane for hydrogen evolution at room temperature. The as-synthesized Ag_0.1Co_0.9/g-C₃N₄ catalysts displayed the highest turnover frequency (TOF) value of 249.02 mol H₂·(mol_Ag·min)⁻¹ for hydrogen evolution from the hydrolysis of ammonia borane, which was higher than many other reported values. Furthermore, the Ag_0.1Co_0.9/g-C₃N₄ catalyst could be recycled during five consecutive runs. The study proves that Ag_0.1Co_0.9/g-C₃N₄ is a potential catalytic material toward the hydrolysis of ammonia borane for hydrogen production.

Hydrogen generation through ammonia–borane (AB) hydrolysis has been regarded as one of the most promising pathways to tap renewable green energy. The design and synthesis of highly effective catalysts toward hydrogen production from aqueous AB is of paramount significance. Here, the facile synthesis of Rh nanoparticles (NPs) immobilized on nanodiamond (nano-DA) and concomitant AB hydrolysis to produce hydrogen was successfully achieved. The in situ generated Rh/nano-DA exhibited excellent catalytic activity toward AB hydrolysis, with a high turnover frequency (TOF) value of 729.4 min⁻¹ at 25 °C and a low activation energy of 25.6 kJ mol⁻¹. Moreover, the catalyst could be reused four times. The unique properties of DA with abundant oxygen-containing groups enable the homogeneous distribution of small and surface-clean Rh NPs on the nano-DA surface, which can supply abundant accessible active sites for hydrogen evolution from AB hydrolysis. This study demonstrated that nano-DA can be applied as an ideal matrix to deposit efficient Rh nanocatalyst toward hydrogen evolution reaction.

Ag-based materials have features of low-cost and abundance in comparison with Pt-group metals, while their catalytic performance for hydrogen release from ammonia borane (AB) hydrolysis is relatively low. Herein, we report an activity improvement in hydrogen evolution from catalytic AB hydrolysis over a zeolitic imidazolate framework-67-derived Co@CN anchored Ag nanoparticle (NP) catalyst. Attributed to the rich N-dopant and spatial confinement of the Co@CN, small Ag NPs are uniformly distributed on the support (AgCo@CN). The obtained AgCo@CN exhibits excellent catalytic activity with a high turnover frequency of 282.8 min⁻¹ for AB hydrolysis, outperforming most of the reported Ag-based catalysts and comparable to many Pt-group metal catalysts. The well-distributed Ag NPs with small sizes and the synergistic effect between Ag and Co@CN facilitate the oxidative cleavage of O–H in H₂O molecules and thereby contribute to the boosted catalytic activity of AgCo@CN for AB hydrolysis. This strategy can be extended to synthesize other supported metal NPs with high efficiency for catalytic utilization.