Ammonia borane-based reactive mixture for trapping and converting carbon dioxide

Abstract

Ammonia borane (NH₃BH₃) is a reducing agent, able to trap and convert carbon dioxide. In the present work, we used a reactive solid consisting of a mixture of 90 wt.% of NH₃BH₃ and 10 wt.% of palladium chloride, because the mixture reacts in a fast and exothermic way while releasing H₂ and generating catalytic Pd⁰. We took advantage of such reactivity to trap and convert CO₂ (7 bar), knowing besides that Pd⁰ is a CO₂ hydrogenation catalyst. The operation (i.e. stage 1) was effective: BNH polymers, and B−O, C=O, C−O, and C−H bonds (like in BOCH₃ and BOOCH groups) were identified. We then (in stage 2) pyrolyzed the as-obtained solid at 1250 °C and washed it with water. In doing so, we isolated cyclotriboric acid H₃B₃O₆ (stemming from B₂O₃ formed at 1250 °C), hexagonal boron nitride, and graphitic carbon. In conclusion, the stage 1 showed that CO₂ can be ‘trapped’ and converted, resulting in the formation of BOCH₃ and BOOCH groups (possible sources of methanol and formic acid), and the stage 2 showed that CO₂ transforms into graphitic carbon.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

ammonia borane / boron nitride / boron oxide / carbon dioxide / graphitic carbon

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by TUBITAK (Project No. 218M181) and CAMPUS FRANCE PHC BOSPHORUS (Project No. 42161TB). C.A.C.M. and U.B.D. want to acknowledge the CONACyT (Mexican National Council for Science and Technology) for the scholarship of C.A.C.M. (2017–2021).

Electronic supplementary information

Supplementary materials can be found in the online version at https://doi.org/10.1007/s11706-022-0610-z.

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