Bimetallic catalysts selectively grown via N-doped carbon nanotubes for hydrogen generation

This work provides both a facile method to synthesize bimetallic catalysts (BMCs) via pyridine-like N atoms of N-doped carbon nanotubes (NDCNTs) and also a picture about how to design the optimal BMC for hydrogen generation from the hydrogen storage material. In principle, the ratio of one component to another component could be generically extended to fabricate the high-performance BMCs on host nanostructures. Indeed, we demonstrate that the BMC composed of the optimum composition (Ni_0.72Pt_0.28) results in the large hydrogen generation of ∼28 kg h^-1/kg of catalyst from an aqueous borane ammonia hydrogen storage, thus being capable of satisfying the DOE target (7.2 kg h^-1) required for advanced applications even with the small amount of our BMC attached onto the NDCNTs. This high hydrogen generation rate is found to be attributed to the optimal distance between active Pt and cheap Ni atoms for effective hydrogen generation.