Monodisperse palladium-nickel alloy nanoparticles assembled on graphene oxide with the high catalytic activity and reusability in the dehydrogenation of dimethylamine-borane

Herein, a highly efficient and stable palladium nickel nanoparticles (PdNi NPs) supported on graphene oxide (GO) was synthesized, characterized and applied for the dehydrogenation of dimethyl ammonia borane (DMAB). The monodisperse PdNi NPs has been synthesized via the ultrasonic double solvent reduction method in the presence of oleylamine and GO as support matrices. The structure morphology and properties of PdNi@GO NPs were characterized by using different techniques such as UV-VIS, XPS, TEM, HRTEM and XRD methods. The PdNi@GO NPs was found to be highly effective and stable in the dehydrogenation of DMAB. This catalyst with the turnover frequency of 271.9 h−1 shows one of the best results among the all prepared catalysts in literature for the dehydrogenation of DMAB. The apparent activation parameters of the catalytic dehydrogenation reaction were also calculated; apparent activation energy (Ea,app) = 38 ± 2 kJ mol−1, activation enthalpy (ΔH#,app) = 35 ± 1 kJ mol−1 and activation entropy (ΔS#,app) = −102 ± 1 J K−1 mol−1.