On-demand Hydrogen Production from Organosilanes at Ambient Temperature Using Heterogeneous Gold Catalysts

An environmentally friendly (“green”), H(2)-generation system was developed that involved hydrolytic oxidation of inexpensive organosilanes as hydrogen storage materials with newly developed heterogeneous gold nanoparticle catalysts. The gold catalyst functioned well at ambient temperature under aerobic conditions, providing efficient production of pure H(2). The newly developed size-selective gold nanoparticle catalysts could be separated easily from the reaction mixture containing organosilanes, allowing an on/off-switchable H(2)-production by the introduction and removal of the catalyst. This is the first report of an on/off-switchable H(2)-production system employing hydrolytic oxidation of inexpensive organosilanes without requiring additional energy.