One-step synthesis of Ni@Pd/NH2-Fe3O4 nanoparticles as affordable catalyst for formic acid dehydrogenation

Currently, one of the critical issues in the world is finding an appropriate green alternative to fossil fuels due to the concerns about global warming. As a hydrogen source, formic acid has been given particular attention owing to the attractive features such as high-energy density, no toxicity, high stability at ambi-ent temperature and high hydrogen content. Introducing an affordable and highly efficient catalyst with easy recovery from the reaction mixture for selective dehydrogenation of formic acid is still demanding. In this report, we used a simple one-step process to synthesize Ni@Pd core shell nanoparticles on 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane modified Fe3O4 nanoparticles. The existence of Ni and Pd results in a synergic effect on the catalytic activity. The -NH2 groups play an important role for obtaining well-dispersed ultrafine particles with high surface area and active sites. In addition, Fe3O4 lead to convenient magnetic recovery of the catalyst from reaction mixture. Our results indicate that the as-prepared catalyst give the superb turnover frequency of 5367.8 h-1 with no additive, which is higher than most of the previously reported catalysts.