Carbon spheres from lactose as green catalyst for fast hydrogen production via methanolysis

Micrometer sized carbon spheres (CSs) are prepared in a single step using lactose precursor via hydrothermal method. These CSs are chemically modified with 3-chloro-2-hydroxypropyl ammonium chloride (CHPACl) and triethylenetetramine (TETA) to generate amine groups on the particle surface. Modified CSs with TETA was protonated with HCl as CSs-TETA-HCl that the zeta potential is increased to +40.3 ± 0.70 from ?51.4 ± 4.66 mV. The catalytic performance of CSs are tested as catalysts in the methanolysis of NaBH₄, and the best catalytic performance as 2586 mL min^?1 g^?1 hydrogen generation rate (HGR) was obtained by CSs-TETA-HCl catalyst at 298 K as metal free catalyst. Furthermore, various parameters such as the amount of NaBH₄, the reaction temperature, and the reusability of CSs-TETA-HCl particles are investigated. More importantly, relatively low activation energy, 23.82 kJ mol^?1 for CSs-TETA-HCl catalyzed NaBH₄ methanolysis reaction is obtained in comparison to metal nanoparticle and metal free catalysts reported for the same purpose in the literature.