A safe, efficient, and responsive
online hydrogen source is critical
for the commercial application of proton exchange membrane fuel cells
(PEMFCs). Catalysts play an important role in accelerating the development
of hydrous hydrazine as a promising online hydrogen source, and the
development of hydrous hydrazine (N2H4·H2O) as a promising online hydrogen source for PEMFCs requires
superior catalysts with low cost and high activity. Herein, we report
the synthesis of a supported amorphous catalyst NiMo/TiO2 using a combination of impregnation and coreduction methods. The
NiMo/TiO2 catalyst can be responsive and completely decompose
hydrous hydrazine to produce hydrogen in 1.5 min with a H2 selectivity of 100% and a turnover frequency (TOF) value of 484
h–1 under alkaline conditions at 343 K, outperforming
most non-noble metal catalysts. Moreover, H2 selectivity
has no decline after 10 cycles. The excellent catalytic properties
can be attributed to the strong synergistic interaction between the
support TiO2 and NiMo nanoparticles, as well as the amorphous
NiMo nanoparticles possessing a high concentration of coordinated
unsaturated sites. In addition, the doping of Mo leads to the modification
of the electronic and geometric structures of the NiMo/TiO2 surface, which results in an easier cleavage of the N–H bond
and desorption of reaction intermediates.