Highly dispersed Pd nanoparticles anchored on carbon nitride for hydrogen production from formic acid

In this paper, ultrathin layers of carbon nitride were obtained by dissolving urea in different amounts of water and used as a carrier to prepare catalysts for formic acid dehydrogenation. The catalytic activity of the carbon nitride supported Pd catalyst in formic acid dehydrogenation was investigated. The ratio of urea to water played a key role in the type and content of nitrogen-containing functional groups, and then enhanced the catalytic performance by regulating the electronic properties of Pd. The Pd/CN-U 1 W 5 catalyst exhibited excellent catalytic activity for the production of hydrogen from formic acid with an initial TOF of 1058 h −1 at 348 K. It was found that the high catalytic performance of the catalyst could be attributed to the strong interaction between Pd nanoparticles and pyridinic N, small Pd nanoparticle size and highly dispersed Pd nanoparticles. A carbon nitride supported Pd catalyst was prepared by a wet reduction method. The addition of water can change the type and content of N-containing groups. The catalytic activity is dependent on the surface electronic properties of Pd.