Selective H ₂ Production upon NH ₃ BH ₃ Hydrolysis over a Magnetic Cu/Ni-CMS Catalyst

H 2 production from chemical hydrogen storage materials, such as ammonia borane, has attracted widespread attention as an innovative and promising alternative to traditional hydrogen storage approaches, offering notable advantages including high storage density and enhanced safety. Herein, a series of non-noble metal nanocomposites as high-powered nanocatalysts were fabricated via fixation of transition metal nanoparticles (Fe, Co, Ni, and Cu) onto Ni-enriched carbon microspheres (Ni-CMSs) for selective H 2 production upon NH 3 BH 3 hydrolysis. The optimal Cu/Ni-CMS nanocomposite exhibited the highest catalytic efficiency in H 2 production upon NH 3 BH 3 hydrolysis, with a remarkable rate of 1449.74 mL(H 2 ). g cat –1 min –1 at 30 °C. Various physical characterizations confirmed that Cu nanoparticles were successfully immobilized onto Ni-CMS; The as-prepared Cu/Ni-CMS was composed of homogeneously distributed Cu, Ni, C, N, and O elements throughout the hollow structure of Ni-CMS. Attractively, the magnetic Cu/Ni-CMS can be rapidly separated and reused over 10 catalytic cycles using an external magnet during NH 3 BH 3 hydrolysis for H 2 production, with negligible activity loss. This work could provide a facile and simple route for the synthesis of non-noble metal catalysts for H 2 evolution.