Facile synthesis of NiPt-CeO2 nanocomposite as an efficient catalyst for hydrogen generation from hydrazine borane

NiPt-CeO2 nanocomposites (NCs) have been easily prepared via a surfactant aided co-reduction route and characterized by ICP-AES, XRD, TEM, HRTEM, SAED, EDX and XPS techniques. The characterized results show that the NiPt-CeO2 NCs with an average particle size of 3 nm are in amorphous state and well-dispersed. The as-synthesized NiPt-CeO2 NCs are successfully applied as a highly efficient catalyst for rapid and high-extent dehydrogenation of hydrazine borane (Hy-B). The amorphous NiPt-CeO2 NCs obtained due to the addition of CeO2 display much better activity than that of Ni-, Pt-CeO2, and crystalline NiPt NCs. Especially, Ni0.9Pt0.1-CeO2 NCs with a low noble-metal content exhibit markedly high catalytic activity to release 5.74 equiv. (H2 + N2) per Hy-B in only 12.3 min with a high turnover frequency (TOF) value of 234 h−1 (molH2·molmetal−1·h−1). In the presence of this special amorphous state Ni0.9Pt0.1-CeO2 nanocatalyst, the hydrolysis of the group BH3 and the decomposition of the moiety N2H4 occur simultaneously and thus accelerate the rate of releasing hydrogen from Hy-B. This excellent catalytic performance is due to the synergistic effect between NiPt and CeO2 and the promotion effect of NaOH.