Ammonia borane (AB) is an excellent candidate for the chemical storage of hydrogen. However, its practical utilization for hydrogen production is hindered by the need for expensive noble-metal-based catalysts. Herein, we report Co–Co₃O₄ nanoparticles (NPs) facilely deposited on carbon dots (CDs) as a highly efficient, robust, and noble-metal-free catalyst for the hydrolysis of AB. The incorporation of the multi-interfaces between Co, Co₃O₄ NPs, and CDs endows this hybrid material with excellent catalytic activity (r_B = 6816$\mathrm{m}{\mathrm{L}}_{{\mathrm{H}}_2}$ min^–1 g_Co^–1) exceeding that of previous non-noble-metal NP systems and even that of some noble-metal NP systems. A further mechanistic study suggests that these interfacial interactions can affect the electronic structures of interfacial atoms and provide abundant adsorption sites for AB and water molecules, resulting in a low energy barrier for the activation of reactive molecules and thus substantial improvement of the catalytic rate.

硼烷氨（AB）是化学储存氢的极佳选择。但是，由于需要昂贵的贵金属基催化剂而阻碍了其在制氢中的实际利用。在本文中，我们报道了Co-Co ₃ O ₄纳米颗粒（NPs）轻而易举地沉积在碳点（CDs）上，它是AB水解的高效，坚固且不含贵金属的催化剂。Co，Co ₃ O ₄ NP和CD之间多界面的结合使这种杂化材料具有出色的催化活性（r _B  = 6816$\mathrm{米}{\mathrm{大号}}_{{\mathrm{H}}_{\mathrm{2个}}}$min ^–1 g _Co ^–1），超过了以前的非贵金属NP系统甚至某些贵金属NP系统的值。进一步的机理研究表明，这些界面相互作用可以影响界面原子的电子结构，并为AB和水分子提供丰富的吸附位点，从而导致低能垒，无法活化反应分子，从而大大提高了催化速率。