Abstract:
Ammonia borane (NH
3BH
3, AB) is considered as an ideal hydrogen storage material for portable hydrogen production. In this paper, Co
0.8Cu
0.2-ZIF precursor was obtained by stirring the reactants at room temperature, and a bimetallic carbon cube (Co
0.8Cu
0.2/CNC) catalyst was prepared by roasting this precursor at high temperature. In addition, the microstructure as well as the composition of the catalyst was investigated using various characterization methods. The change rule of the catalyst was explored by the single-variable method. The results showed that the addition of a small amount of Cu had a stabilizing effect on the cubic morphology of the Co
0.8Cu
0.2/CNC catalyst. When the dispersant was CTAB and the roasting temperature was 873 K, the activation energy (
Ea) for catalyzing the hydrolysis of AB to hydrogen was 50.79 kJ/mol, and the transition frequency (TOF) value was as high as 23.37 min
−1. In addition, the catalyst could still catalyze the complete hydrolysis of AB to hydrogen after 25 cycles, which indicated that the catalyst had good stability performance.