AuPd Nanoparticles Anchored on Nitrogen-Decorated Carbon Nanosheets with Highly Efficient and Selective Catalysis for the Dehydrogenation of Formic Acid

Formic acid (FA), a sustainable and safe hydrogen storage vector, has the advantages of nontoxicity, high hydrogen content (4.4 wt %) and low cost. However, the dehydrogenation of formic acid at near room temperature remains a big challenge in terms of favorable hydrogen release rate and CO-absence hydrogen production. Herein, a series of nitrogen-decorated carbon nanosheets (n-CNS) supported AuPd nanoparticles (NPs) were designed and employed as efficient catalysts to dehydrogenate FA for the first time. The catalyst AuPd NPs supported on n-CNS synthesized at hydrothermal temperature of 160 °C (AuPd/n-CNS-Th-160) exhibits excellent catalytic activity toward the dehydrogenation of FA compared with AuPd/g-carbon nitride (AuPd/g-C3N4) and commercial Pd/C catalysts, reaching an initial turnover frequency (TOF) of 527 h–1, 100% hydrogen generation and selectivity at room temperature (25 °C), while the TOF achieves even 1896 h–1 at 60 °C. The enhanced catalytic performance can be attributed to the coordinated ...