Raney Ni as a high-performance catalyst for the hydrolysis of ammonia borane to produce hydrogen

Ammonia borane (AB) has received much attention as an environmentally friendly, non-toxic, room temperature stable hydrogen storage material with high hydrogen content of 19.6%. However, its hydrolysis for hydrogen production at room-temperature is kinetically slow and requires precious metal catalysts. In this work, it is found that the prepared Raney Ni W-r treated with high concentration of NaOH (6.25 mol/L) at 110 °C exhibited excellent catalytic performance for AB hydrolysis at room temperature. The Raney Ni W-r can promote the AB complete hydrolysis within 60 s under basic condition at small sized trials, even higher than that of the 20% Pt/C catalyst. Its apparent activation energy at room temperature is only 26.6 kJ/mol and the turnover frequency (TOF) value is as high as 51.42 min⁻¹. Owing to its high density and magnetic properties, the catalyst is very easy for magnetic separation. Furthermore, possible mechanism of the hydrolytic reaction of AB based on experimental results is proposed. As a well-established industrial catalyst, Raney Ni has been prepared on a large scale at low cost. This study provides a promising pathway for the large-scale preparation of low-cost and recyclable catalysts for AB hydrolysis.