Ultrafine Ru nanoparticles anchored to porous g-C3N4 as efficient catalysts for ammonia borane hydrolysis

Abstract Hierarchical porous g-C3N4 nanosheets are prepared from melamine using NH4Cl as dynamic gas templates to anchor the ultrafine Ru nanoparticles (NPs) with a facile adsorption-in situ reduction strategy. The results reveal that 1: 3 is the optimal mass ratio for melamine to NH4Cl and the Ru NPs are evenly dispersed in the porous network of g-C3N4 in the corresponding catalysts. Remarkably, the porous catalysts exhibit superior catalytic activity and satisfactory recyclability for ammonia borane (NH3-BH3, AB) hydrolysis. The corresponding turnover frequency is as high as 122.2 × 103 mL H 2 · g Ru -1 · min -1 and the apparent activation energy (35.6 kJ mol−1) is competitive. AB hydrolysis is of 1.17-order and near zero-order with respect to the Ru and AB concentrations, respectively. The results demonstrate that the Ru/g-C3N4 catalysts are promising in developing an alternative clean and environmentally friendly energy carrier from the hydrogen storage materials.