Hydrazine bisborane as a promising material for chemical hydrogen storage

A kind of promising hydrogen storage material-hydrazine bisborane (N2H4(BH3)2, HBB) is synthesized by a typical chemical method. HBB exhibits relatively low dehydrogenation temperature (around 100 °C), effective prevention of any unwanted gaseous products, such as ammonia, diborane, confirming a very high hydrogen release purity of >99%. The activation energy (Ea) of the first-step dehydrogenation of HBB is calculated to be 106.4 kJ/mol using Kissinger’s method. According to the 11B NMR and FT-IR results, the thermal decomposition of HBB was determined to produce [HBN2BH]2 dimers, in which the coordination environment of B atoms located in the formation of HBN2.

► The hydrogen storage properties of hydrazine bisborane is reported.
► The hydrazine bisborane refined to crystallize in the cubic system.
► The hydrazine bisborane shows a low dehydrogenation temperature without any unwanted gaseous products.