Green Approaches to Dehydrogenation of DMAB Catalyzed by Starch Stabilized Ru(0), Cu(0) and Ni(0) Nanoparticles in the Absence of a Solvent

This work covers the results of a detailed study on the in-situ formation and catalytic use of metal nanoparticles [Ru(0), Ni(0) and Cu(0)] stabilized on starch, a biodegradable and natural polymer, in the absence of a solvent by aiming to develop a green approach providing sustainable system for hydrogen production from the dehydrogenation of dimethylamine borane (DMAB) at about room temperature, 35.0 +/- 0.1 degrees C. All three metals were well-stabilized on the surface of starch with a particle size about 10.0 nm and highly active, long-lived in hydrogen production from the dehydrogenation of DMAB at 35.0 +/- 0.1 degrees C with an extraordinary initial TOF and TTON values of 173 h(-1) and 23000 TTON for Ru(0); 130 h(-1) and 13000 TTON for Cu(0) and 37 h(-1) and 4900 TTON for Ni(0) nanoparticles. Starch stabilized metal(0) nanoparticles could be isolated from the solution and characterized by UV-vis, XRD, TGA, TEM, SEM, EDX, and XPS.