Enhancing formic acid dehydrogenation for hydrogen production with the metal/organic interface

Abstract Ultrafine and well-dispersed CrPd nanoparticles are successfully immobilized on 3-aminopropyl triethoxysilane functionalized monochlortriazinyl β-cyclodextrin (M-β-CD-A) by a facile wet-chemical method. Benefiting from the strong metal/organic interfacial interactions between the CrPd nanoparticles and M-β-CD-A support, the Cr 0.4 Pd 0.6 /M-β-CD-A catalyst exhibits excellent catalytic activity towards formic acid dehydrogenation for hydrogen production, affording a high initial turn over frequency of 5771 mol H 2 mol Pd −1  h −1 without any additive at 323 K, which is much higher than those obtained for most of the reported noble metal catalysts under similar conditions. This work provides a promising lead for the design of efficient heterogeneous catalysts toward formic acid dehydrogenation for hydrogen production.