Abstract
Micrometer sized carbon spheres (CSs) are prepared in a single step using lactose precursor via hydrothermal method. These CSs are chemically modified with 3-chloro-2-hydroxypropyl ammonium chloride (CHPACl) and triethylenetetramine (TETA) to generate amine groups on the particle surface. Modified CSs with TETA was protonated with HCl as CSs-TETA-HCl that the zeta potential is increased to +40.3 ± 0.70 from −51.4 ± 4.66 mV. The catalytic performance of CSs are tested as catalysts in the methanolysis of NaBH4, and the best catalytic performance as 2586 mL min−1 g−1 hydrogen generation rate (HGR) was obtained by CSs-TETA-HCl catalyst at 298 K as metal free catalyst. Furthermore, various parameters such as the amount of NaBH4, the reaction temperature, and the reusability of CSs-TETA-HCl particles are investigated. More importantly, relatively low activation energy, 23.82 kJ mol−1 for CSs-TETA-HCl catalyzed NaBH4 methanolysis reaction is obtained in comparison to metal nanoparticle and metal free catalysts reported for the same purpose in the literature.
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•Carbon Spheres (CSs) from Lactose as resources catalyst for NaBH4 methanolysis.•Chemically modified CSs catalysts with highly tunable surface charges.•CSs catalysts for fast H2 generation with low Ea, 23.819 kJ mol−1.
