RuCo bimetallic alloy nanoparticles immobilized on multi-porous MIL-53(Al) as a highly efficient catalyst for the hydrolytic reaction of ammonia borane

Well-dispersed bimetallic RuCo alloy nanoparticles (NPs) were successfully immobilized on the multi-porous, water-tolerant metal organic frameworks MIL-53(Al) by a facile solvent impregnation method. Among the RuCo@MIL-53(Al) with different Ru/Co molar ratios, the Ru1Co1@MIL-53(Al) performed better and was superior to Ru@MIL-53(Al) and single RuCo NPs for the hydrolysis of ammonia borane (AB, NH3BH3), owing to the synergistic effect caused by the electronic and geometric interactions between Ru and Co atoms and bi-functional effect generated between the RuCo NPs and the MIL-53(Al) support. Compared with bimetallic Ru1Ni1 and Ru1Cu1 counterparts loadings, the Ru1Co1@MIL-53(Al) also showed better catalytic activity for the hydrolysis of AB. Moreover, the Ru1Co1@ MIL-53(Al) presented good durability and reusability in the catalytic reaction, and the activation energy (Ea) and turnover frequency values (TOF) were 34.32 kJ mol−1 and 87.24 mol H2 min−1 (mol Ru)−1, respectively.