Spherical mesoporous silica-supported Ru nanoparticles for ammonia decomposition

To synthesize highly dispersed Ru nanoparticles (NPs) with desired particle size for NH3 decomposition, an appropriate support is crucial. Herein, spherical mesoporous silica (SMS) NPs with ∼3 nm pores are synthesized by a microwave-assisted evaporation-induced self-assembly method and used as support of Ru NPs for NH3 decomposition. Characterization shows that compared to Ru NPs supported on SBA-15 and fumed SiO2, Ru NPs supported on SMS (Ru@SMS) exhibit superior NH3 decomposition performance, achieving a hydrogen generation rate of 31.4 mmol·g-1 cat·min−1 at 500 °C, which is one of the highest reported values for supported Ru catalysts in NH3 decomposition. The excellent NH3 decomposition performance observed on Ru@SMS should be attributed to effective dispersion and appropriate particle size (2.22 ± 0.29 nm) of Ru NPs. This work highlights the potential of SMS as support of Ru catalyst in NH3 decomposition.