Enhancing Electrostatic Interactions to Activate Polar Molecules: Ammonia Borane Methanolysis on Cu/Co(OH)2 Nanohybrid

Optimization of the metal-support interaction (MSI) is at the core of heterogeneous catalysts design. For polar molecules, electrostatic interactions resulting from the MSI facilitate their activation. In this work, a feasible in situ method has been employed to control the electrostatic properties at the interface of the noble-metal-free Cu/Co(OH)2 nanohybrid catalyst. On the Cu/Co(OH)2 interface, the positively charged copper enhances the polar molecule adsorption. By varying the metal/support ratio, a highly efficient catalytic activity for the methanolysis of Ammonia Borane (AB) with an initial turnover frequency (TOF) of 61.63 mol(H2) mol(catalyst)-1 min-1 and long-term stability at ambient temperature were observed. Theoretical analysis unravels the role of charge transfer in promoting the reactions and the metal/support ratio in manipulating the catalytic activity via tuning electrostatic interactions.