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EFFICIENT HYDROGEN GENERATION FROM
DIMETHYL AMMONIA BORANE AND THEIR
POTENTIAL APPLICATIONS IN FUEL-CELL
POWERED VEHICLES
ABSTRACT
RESEARCH BACKGROUND
The depletion of fossil fuels presents one of the most challenging environmental issues
today. To address this problem and achieve carbon neutrality, hydrogen produced
from renewable resources has emerged as a promising clean energy carrier. Several
CHAN CHUN HANG technical hurdles, related to hydrogen manufacture, transportation, and storage, pose
barriers to the widespread hydrogen adoption, particularly in automotive applications.
Ammonia borane (AB), a hydrogen storage material with a high hydrogen content of
BEng (Hons) in Environmental 19% by weight, releases hydrogen through catalytic hydrolysis, but the release of
Engineering and Management ammonia gas as a byproduct can potentially damage fuel-cell catalysts. Therefore, a
Department of Construction, new catalytic material is sought to overcome these hurdles.
Environment and Engineering
METHODOLOGY
The experiment is conducted by utilising different additives for preparing a series of
OBJECTIVES bimetallic nanoparticles and dual-atom single-atom catalysts consisting of atomically
dispersed Cobalt(Co) and Copper(Cu) atoms on N-doped carbon nanotubes as a
catalyst for dehydrogenation by dimethyl ammonia borane (DAB) hydrolysis.
Dimethyl ammonia borane (DAB) is a
significantly lower-cost alternative to FINDINGS
AB (one-tenth the cost). DAB releases
hydrogen through catalytic hydrolysis In search of suitable non-precious metal catalysts for the hydrolysis of ammonia
borane, we have found out a series of Co-based catalysts that can also show activity
but without the production of ammonia, towards the hydrolysis of dimethyl ammonia borane. The catalytic activity can even
and much slower kinetics even with outperform some precious metal catalysts. The results are promising, and we are
precious metal catalysts. This study now collecting other kinetic parameters, such as the relation between the rate and
aims to demonstrate through theoretical the concentration of DAB, Catalyst, cycling performance, etc. The ultimate goal is to
calculations that efficient precious develop a hydrogen release system using DAB, thus advancing the utilisation of safe
metal-free catalysts can be designed and cost-effective hydrogen storage materials for large-scale energy storage systems,
to achieve high turnover frequency and such as hydrogen fuel-cell-powered vehicles.
rapid hydrogen generation from DAB.
ABOUT THE INVESTIGATOR
My name is CHAN Chun Hang, and I am interested in sustainability, carbon reduction
and energy saving. Hydrogen fuel is considered a potential substitute for conventional
fossil fuels. I believe hydrogen energy can be an effective means to reduce carbon
emissions and achieve carbon neutrality. My FYP supervisor Dr TSANG Chi Wing, Alex,
offered considerable assistance to me in this project. I hope to work in the field of
carbon audit or energy saving.
16 Student Applied Research Presentations 2024 Student Applied Research Presentations 2024
