Hydrogen generation via the catalytic hydrolysis of morpholine-borane: A new, efficient and cost-effective hydrogen storage medium

Herein, for the first time, we introduce the morpholine-borane complex (MB) as a new, efficient, cost-effective and commercially available chemical hydrogen storage material for mobile applications. In this regard, hydrogen production from the hydrolysis of MB catalyzed by in situ generated water-soluble polymer stabilized Ag(0) and Pd(0) nanoparticles (NPs) is reported for the first time. In situ generated PSMA-stabilized Ag(0) and Pd(0) NPs showed remarkable activity in hydrogen production from the hydrolysis of MB at room temperature, providing initial TOFs of 16.1 min−1 and 37.3 min−1, respectively. A set of kinetic studies on the catalytic hydrolysis of MB were conducted by changing the catalyst/substrate amount and temperature, and the rate law expression and activation parameters were produced by collecting the kinetic data. The apparent activation energies for the in situ generated Ag(0) and Pd(0) NPs catalyzed MB hydrolysis were calculated to be 71.4 and 32.5 kJ mol−1, respectively.