Kinetics of catalytic decomposition of hydrous hydrazine over CeO2-supported bimetallic Ni–Pt nanocatalysts

Abstract Catalytic decomposition of hydrous hydrazine (N 2 H 4 ·H 2 O) has been considered as one of the source of hydrogen for fuel cell applications, but the reaction kinetics has received very limited attention. The kinetics of the catalytic decomposition of alkaline N 2 H 4 ·H 2 O solutions is investigated over bimetallic Ni–Pt nanocatalysts supported ceria (CeO 2 ), which is prepared by a one-pot co-precipitation method. The resultant Ni–Pt/CeO 2 catalyst exhibits high activity and 100% H 2 selectivity for the N 2 H 4 ·H 2 O decomposition. The catalytic decomposition of N 2 H 4 ·H 2 O with respect to N 2 H 4 ·H 2 O concentration follows a near-zero-order kinetics at the initial reaction stage with high N 2 H 4 ·H 2 O concentrations and the fraction-order kinetics at low N 2 H 4 ·H 2 O concentrations. The kinetic rate equation can be expressed as: r  = – d[ N 2 H 4 · H 2 O ]/d t  =  k[N 2 H 4 · H 2 O ] 0.52/0.043 [ NaOH ] 0.57/0 [ catalyst ] 1.03 , k  = 4.64 × 10 8 exp(−6591.29/ T ). Our results provide valuable insights into the catalytic decomposition kinetics of N 2 H 4 ·H 2 O.