Polyvinylpyrrolidone stabilized-Ru nanoclusters loaded onto reduced graphene oxide as high active catalyst for hydrogen evolution

Abstract

Ruthenium/reduced graphene oxide nanocomposites (Ru/rGO NCs) were synthesized via an electrostatic self-assembly approach. Polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) stabilized and positively charged metallic ruthenium nanoclusters about 1.2 nm were synthesized and uniformly loaded onto negatively charged graphene oxide (GO) sheets via strong electrostatic interactions. The as-prepared Ru/rGO NCs exhibited superior performance in catalytic hydrolysis of sodium borohydride (NaBH₄) to generate H₂. The hydrogen generation rate was up to 14.87 L H₂ min⁻¹ g_cat⁻¹ at 318 K with relatively low activation energy of 38.12 kJ mol⁻¹. Kinetics study confirmed that the hydrolysis of NaBH₄ was first order with respect to concentration of catalysts. Besides, the conversion of NaBH₄ remained at 97% and catalytic activity retained more than 70% after 5 reaction cycles at room temperature. These results suggested that the Ru/rGO NCs have a promising prospect in the field of clean energy.

Graphical abstract

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