Preparation of Rh/N-GMCs nanocatalyst and its catalytic performance for the hydrolytic dehydrogenation of ammonia borane

In this paper, nitrogen-doped graphitic carbon materials (N-GMCs) with unique layered structure were prepared by calcining a mixture of melamine and glucose at high temperature. The Rh/N-GMCs catalyst was finally prepared by impregnation-reduction method using N-GMCs as the carrier to support the metal Rh on the surface of the carrier. The results showed that there was a strong metal-support interaction between Rh and N-GMCs, and the reaction transition frequency (TOF) value reached a peak when the loading amount of Rh was 0.4%. At this time, the TOF value of AB dehydrogenation reaction catalyzed by 0.4%Rh/N-GMCs catalyst was 645.3 min^–1, and the activation energy (E_a) of ammonia borane hydrolysis on this catalyst was 54.0 kJ/mol. The rate was positively correlated with the ammonia borane concentration and the catalyst concentration. After 10 cycles of the catalyst, the catalytic activity did not decrease significantly, indicating that the catalyst had excellent cyclic stability.