Maximizing the Synergistic Effect of CoNi Catalyst on α-MoC for Robust Hydrogen Production
Yuzhen Ge, Xuetao Qin, Aowen Li, Yuchen Deng, Lili Lin, Mengtao Zhang, Qiaolin Yu, Siwei Li, Mi Peng, Yao Xu, Zhao Xueyao, Mingquan Xu, Wu Zhou, Siyu Yao, Ding Ma
Abstract
We report the syntheses of highly dispersed CoNi bimetallic catalysts on the surface of α-MoC based on the strong metal support interaction (SMSI) effect. The interaction between the nearly atomically dispersed Co and Ni atoms was observed for the first time by the real-space chemical mapping at the atomic level. Combined with the ability of α-MoC to split water at low temperatures, the as-synthesized CoNi/α-MoC catalysts exhibited robust and synergistic performance for the hydrogen production from hydrolysis of ammonia borane. The metal-normalized activity of the bimetallic 1.5Co1.5Ni/α-MoC catalyst reached 321.1 molH2·mol–1CoNi·min–1 at 298 K, which surpasses all the noble metal-free catalysts ever reported and is four times higher than that of the commercial Pt/C catalyst.