By Ksenia Mangino, Jillian Pabalan

Faculty Mentor: Dr. Adharsh Raghavan

Abstract

As opposed to the arduous storage and transport of hydrogen gas in pressurized cylinders, H2 can be easily recovered from solid ammonia borane (AB; NH3BH3) through catalytic dehydrogenation. This alternative method is more cost-effective and space-effective, as well as safer. Although precious metals such as ruthenium and iridium have been used as metal centers in successful catalysis of this process, earth-abundant 3d metal complexes remain underexplored. We present here the synthesis and characterization of three iron and nickel-based catalysts with bi- or tridentate ligands, as well as their catalytic potential for ammonia borane dehydrogenation.