PdAu-MnOx nanoparticles supported on amine-functionalized SiO2 for the room temperature dehydrogenation of formic acid in the absence of additives

• PdAu-MnOx/N-SiO2 catalyst was synthesized and characterized.
• PdAu-MnOx/N-SiO2 catalyst was employed in FA decomposition at room temperature.
• This new catalyst provides record activity (TOF = 785 mol H2 mol catalyst−1 h−1).

Formic acid (HCOOH) has recently been suggested as a promising hydrogen carrier for fuel cell applications. However efficient hydrogen production through the decomposition of formic acid in the absence of additives under mild thermodynamic conditions constitutes a major challenge because of the ease poisoning of active metals with CO formed as intermediate during formic acid decomposition. Recently, we have reported (App. Catal. B: Env. 164 (2015) 324) our discovery that the separately nucleated MnOx nanoparticles act as CO-sponge around catalytically active Pd nanoparticles exist on the same support and enhances both the activity and CO-resistivity of Pd nanoparticles. Using this important finding, herein, we present a new catalyst system consists of the physical mixture of PdAu alloy and MnOx nanoparticles supported on amine-grafted silica (PdAu-MnOx/N-SiO2) for the room temperature dehydrogenation of formic acid in the absence of any additives. PdAu-MnOx/N-SiO2 catalyst was simply prepared by deposition–reduction technique in water at room temperature with high reproducibility and characterized by the combination of various spectroscopic tools including ICP-OES, P-XRD, DR/UV–vis, XPS, BFTEM, STEM-EDX, STEM-line analysis and CO-stripping voltammetry techniques. The sum of their results shows that the formation of physical mixture of PdAu alloy and MnOx (dmean = 2.2 nm) nanoparticles on the surface of support material. This new catalytic material facilitates the hydrogen liberation through the additive-free formic acid dehydrogenation at room temperature with previously unprecedented activity (TOF = 785 mol H2 mol catalyst−1 h−1), converging to that of the existing state of the art homogenous catalysts. This new superior catalytic system enables facile catalyst recovery and very high stability against agglomeration, leaching and CO poisoning, which make it highly reusable catalyst (retains >92% activity and 85% conversion at the 5th catalytic reuse) in the additive-free formic acid dehydrogenation at room temperature.

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