Highly active and selective palladium nanocatalysts anchored on arginine-functionalized graphene oxide for efficient hydrogen production from formic acid

In this study, nanocatalysts based on palladium anchored on graphene derivatives are developed to produce hydrogen through formic acid dehydrogenation. Graphene oxide is functionalized with arginine (ARG-GO) and (3-aminopropyl)triethoxysilane (APTES-GO), and the samples are used as palladium nanoparticle support, resulting in three catalysts Pd/rGO, Pd/ARG-rGO, and Pd/APTES-rGO. The functionalization process leads to a more uniform distribution and size control of the palladium nanoparticles on the supports by increasing Pd-particle support interactions. Both modified catalysts show excellent selectivity for the formic acid dehydrogenation route, completely inhibiting the CO formation. Among the evaluated systems, the arginine-modified catalyst demonstrates the best performance, producing a total of 184 mL of gas at 328 K (in the presence of sodium formate), with an apparent activation energy of 35.5 Kj.mol −1 and a high turnover frequency equivalent to 4749.8 h −1 .