Facile synthesis of bimetallic Ag-Fe core-shell nanoparticles for the selective and efficient dehydrogenation of formic acid

Abstract

Hydrogen energy, being an earth-abundant, renewable, and environment-friendly energy source, has attracted a great deal of attention as a potential alternative to fossil fuels and other conventional, energy production procedures. However, the fabrication of highly selective, durable, and low-cost heterogeneous catalysts for hydrogen production from formic acid (FA) and other hydrogen storage materials remains a key challenge to utilize hydrogen-based energy effectively. Here, we report a facile one-pot fabrication of core@shell Ag-Fe bi-metallic nanoparticles stabilized by hydroxyethyl cellulose (HEC). As prepared catalyst was subjected to UV–Vis, FTIR, XRD, SEM, HR-TEM, EDX, BET, DLS, and ZP characterizations. The Ag₁₀-Fe₉₀-HEC exhibited remarkable efficiency and FA dehydrogenation was accomplished in 3.5 min with >99 % selectivity and a TOF value of 3088.32 h⁻¹ at pH 3.5, FA/SF 1/3, and 343 K temperature was achieved. Moreover, the slightest decrease in activity after six successive catalytic cycles depicts its robust stability. This remarkable efficiency of the Ag₁₀-Fe₉₀-HEC catalyst was attributed to high surface area, strong synergistic effects produced from the combination of two metals, and electron transfer between two metals incorporated in the catalyst. The present catalytic system provides an efficient method for fabricating a highly selective low-cost heterogenous catalyst for CO-free hydrogen release from FA.