Porous titania nanotube confined ultrafine platinum catalysts synthesized by atomic layer deposition with enhanced hydrolytic dehydrogenation performance

Synthesizing the catalysts with high activity and stability has always been the research hotspot in the field of heterogeneous catalysis, and the confinement provides a promising route to achieve the goal. Herein we report the porous TiO₂ nanotube confined Pt catalysts synthesized by the template-assisted atomic layer deposition (ALD) strategy for hydrolytic dehydrogenation of NH₃BH₃, in which the ultrafine Pt nanoparticles are decorated on the inner surfaces of the nanotubes with increased Pt-TiO₂ interfacial sites compared with the supported Pt/TiO₂ counterparts. Combined with the porous structures of the nanotubes with suitable thickness and large open ends, these factors synergistically contribute to the excellent catalytic performances of the confined Pt@TiO₂ catalysts. The present strategy can be extended to prepare the corresponding PtNi@TiO₂ bicomponent catalysts exhibiting the further boosted activity with a TOF value of 1055.2 mol_H2 mol_Pt⁻¹ min⁻¹. This work offers a reliable and general approach for synthesizing the confined catalysts with high efficiency.