Increasing the utilization efficiency of noble metals by the synergy with less expensive metals is an important yet challenging issue in heterogeneous catalysis. Herein, exemplified with Pt-catalyzed hydrolytic dehydrogenation of ammonia borane, partial substitution of the Pt catalysts by over 11 times less expensive Ru is studied to obtain highly efficient and cost-effective Pt-based catalysts. It is observed that the Pt-Ru bimetallic catalysts, especially Pt_0.5Ru_0.5/CNT, deliver higher hydrogen generation activity and durability than the Pt/CNT and Ru/CNT catalysts, indicating a remarkable Pt-Ru synergy. The underlying nature of this synergy is elucidated by combining kinetic and isotopic analyses with multiple techniques such as HAADF-STEM, EDX, XRD, H₂-TPR, HRTEM, XPS and ICP-AES. The appropriate activation energy and entropy of activation for the reaction are mainly responsible for the highly active Pt_0.5Ru_0.5/CNT catalyst, and a volcano-shaped relationship for the reactivity of these five catalysts as a function of entropy of activation is proposed. The insights revealed here might guide the rational design of catalysts for this reaction, and the methodology could be extended to unravel the nature of other bi- or multi-metallic catalysts.

通过与较便宜的金属的协同作用来提高贵金属的利用效率是非均相催化中重要但具有挑战性的问题。在此，以氨硼烷的Pt催化的水解脱氢为例，研究了用便宜11倍以上的便宜的Ru部分取代Pt催化剂以得到高效和成本有效的Pt基催化剂。观察到，Pt-Ru双金属催化剂，特别是Pt _0.5 Ru _0.5 / CNT，比Pt / CNT和Ru / CNT催化剂具有更高的氢生成活性和耐久性，表明了显着的Pt-Ru协同作用。通过将动力学和同位素分析与多种技术（例如HAADF-STEM，EDX，XRD，H _2）结合使用，阐明了这种协同作用的基本性质-TPR，HRTEM，XPS和ICP-AES。适当的活化能和反应的熵主要负责高活性的Pt _0.5 Ru _0.5 / CNT催化剂，并提出了这5种催化剂的反应性与活化熵的函数的火山形关系。此处揭示的见解可能指导该反应催化剂的合理设计，并且可以扩展该方法以阐明其他双金属或多金属催化剂的性质。