Immobilizing palladium nanoparticles on boron-oxygen-functionalized carbon nanospheres towards efficient hydrogen generation from formic acid

Carbon nanospheres (XC-72R) were functionalized by boron-oxygen (B-O) through coannealing with boric acid, to which highly dispersed palladium nanoparticles (Pd NPs) (~ 1.7 nm) were immobilized by a wet chemical reduction for the first time. The resultant Pd/OB-C catalyst exhibits significantly improved activity for the dehydrogenation from formic acid (FA) compared to pristine XC-72R supported Pd NPs (Pd/C). Impressively, by adding melamine precursor, the B-O and nitrogen (N)-functionalized product OB-C-N displays an extremely high B content, ca. 34 times higher than OB-C. The Pd/OB-C-N catalyst with an ultrafine Pd particle size of ~ 1.4 nm shows a superb activity, with a turnover frequency (TOF) as high as 5, 354 h^-1 at 323 K, owing to the uniform ultrafine Pd NPs and the effect from B-O and N functionalities.