Ruthenium supported on MIL-96: An efficient catalyst for hydrolytic dehydrogenation of ammonia borane for chemical hydrogen storage

•Ultrafine Ru NPs have been successfully deposited on MIL-96.•Ru/MIL-96 exhibit exceedingly high catalytic activity with TOF value of 231 min−1.•Ru supported on MIL-96 exhibit enhanced activity compared with other supports.

For the first time, ultrafine Ru nanoparticles with mean diameter of 2 nm are successfully deposited on MIL-96 by using a simple liquid impregnation strategy, and tested for catalytic hydrolysis of ammonia borane. The powder X-ray diffraction, N2 physical adsorption, transmission electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectroscopy measurements are employed to characterized the Ru/MIL-96 catalysts. Thanks to the unique 3D structure of MIL-96, Ru NPs supported on MIL-96 exhibit much enhanced catalytic activity compared with other commercial supported materials and graphene, with the TOF value of 231 mol H2 min−1 (mol Ru)−1, which is among the highest value ever reported. Moreover, this simple method can be extended to facile synthesis of other MOFs supported monometallic and polymetallic NPs for more application.