Nanostructured Ni2P as a Robust Catalyst for the Hydrolytic Dehydrogenation of Ammonia-Borane

Ammonia–borane (AB) is a promising chemical hydrogen‐storage material. However, the development of real‐time, efficient, controllable, and safe methods for hydrogen release under mild conditions is a challenge in the large‐scale use of hydrogen as a long‐term solution for future energy security. A new class of low‐cost catalytic system is presented that uses nanostructured Ni2P as catalyst, which exhibits excellent catalytic activity and high sustainability toward hydrolysis of ammonia–borane with the initial turnover frequency of 40.4 mol(H2) mol(Ni2P)−1 min−1 under air atmosphere and at ambient temperature. This value is higher than those reported for noble‐metal‐free catalysts, and the obtained Arrhenius activation energy (Ea=44.6 kJ mol−1) for the hydrolysis reaction is comparable to Ru‐based bimetallic catalysts. A clearly mechanistic analysis of the hydrolytic reaction of AB based on experimental results and a density functional theory calculation is presented. A low‐cost catalytic system using nanostructured Ni2P as the catalyst was established for the hydrolysis of ammonia–borane. This system exhibits excellent catalytic activity and high sustainability under an air atmosphere and at ambient temperature.