Amino-group and space-confinement assisted synthesis of small and well-defined Rh nanoparticles as efficient catalysts toward ammonia borane hydrolysis

Abstract Hydrogen evolution from ammonia borane (AB) hydrolysis is of great importance considering the ever-increasing demand for green and sustainable energy. However, the development of a facile and efficient strategy to construct high-performance catalysts remains a grand challenge. Herein, we report an amino-group and space-confinement assisted strategy to fabricate Rh nanoparticles (NPs) using amino-functionalized metal-organic-frameworks (UiO-66-NH2) as a NP matrix (Rh/UiO-66-NH2). Owing to the coordination effect of amino-group and space-confinement of UiO-66-NH2, small and well-distributed Rh NPs with a diameter of 3.38 nm are successfully achieved, which can be served as efficient catalysts for AB hydrolysis at room temperature. The maximum turnover frequency of 876.7 min−1 is obtained by using the Rh/UiO-66-NH2 with an optimal Rh loading of 4.38 wt% and AB concentration of 0.2 M at 25 °C, outperforming most of the previously developed Rh-based catalysts. The catalyst is also stable in repetitive cycles for five times. The high performance of this catalyst must be ascribed to the structural properties of UiO-66-NH2, which enable the formation of small and well-dispersed Rh NPs with abundant accessible active sites. This study provides a simple and efficient method to significantly enhance the catalytic performance of Rh for AB hydrolysis.