Enhancing effect of Fe-doping on the activity of nano Ni catalyst towards hydrogen evolution from NH3BH3

The synthesis of inexpensive and efficient catalysts is of practical need for hydrogen generation from ammonia borane. In this work, a series of N-doped carbon coating NiFe nanoparticles (NPs) anchored on graphene was prepared by thermal pyrolysis of (NiFe-LDH)/polydopamine hybrid. The incorporation of certain amount of Fe is effective for enhancing the catalytic activity of Ni. The doping of Fe into Ni effectively optimizes the electronic structures of Ni NPs. In addition, the introduction of graphene oxide increases the apparent catalytic activity of Ni1.2Fe0.8 NPs from TOF value of 4.41 to 23.25 min–1 at 298 K. The efficient activity of prepared catalysts is attributed to the synergistic effect between Ni and Fe atoms. The strategy used for this work offers a new idea for the synthesis of bimetallic nanoalloy and demonstrates the promising potential of NiFe NPs for industrial applications in energy and environmental fields.