Diamine-Alkalized Reduced Graphene Oxide: Immobilization of Sub-2 nm Palladium Nanoparticles and Optimization of Catalytic Activity for Dehydrogenation of Formic Acid

An efficient strategy to downsize metal nanoparticles (NPs) and provide basic sites located nearby for optimizing the catalytic performance of reduced graphene oxide (rGO)-supported metal catalysts has been explored, for the first time, by potent alkalization of rGO with diamine. By virtue of the coordination effects between the metal ions and the amine groups ligated to rGO, monodispersed Pd nanoparticles (diameter ≤1.5 nm) can be facilely anchored on the diamine-alkalized rGO by a simple reduction approach. The turnover frequency (TOF) for heterogeneously catalyzed decomposition of formic acid reaches 3810 h–1 at 323 K, the highest value ever reported under ambient conditions compared with the other heterogeneous catalysts.