Preparation of layered porous carbon supported ruthenium catalyst and its performance for ammonia borane hydrolyzing to hydrogen

In this paper, layered porous carbon sheet (LPCS) was obtained through high temperature calcination under argon atmosphere by using coal pitch as carbon material, sodium chloride as template agent and potassium carbonate as activator. Then, the active component Ru was loaded onto the LPCS support by impregnation to synthesize Ru/LPCS catalyst whose catalytic performance for hydrogen production by hydrolysis of ammonia borane was studied. The results showed that in the presence of light, the maximum value of the turnover frequency (TOF), 334.8 min–1, was obtained at a calcination temperature of 1123 K and a loading of 2% of Ru which is 1.38 times higher than that in the absence of light. The activation energy (Ea) of the catalyst decreased from 90.60 to 70.33 kJ/mol in the presence of light. The hydrogen production rate order with respect to ammonia borane concentration was 0.75, which is first-order relation to the amount of the catalyst.