Hydrogen generation and storage by aqueous sodium borohydride (NaBH4) hydrolysis for small portable fuel cells (H2 – PEMFC)

•A novel mini-reactor with ovoid geometry was built to generate/storage hydrogen.•The ovoid mini-reactor is suitable to perform 8 successive loadings of solution.•The Ni–Ru catalyst kept good activity during successive injections.•Results provide novel insights for a hydrogen based economy for portable devices.

The present study reports original experimental work on hydrogen generation as an energy carrier for portable power applications. Nowadays, the progress of handheld devices implies the need for a fully reliable electricity supply and consequently a sudden on-demand on H2 production/storage. In view of this issue, an innovator mini-reactor (9 cm3) with an ovoid geometry and a capability to generate and store hydrogen up to eight successive injections of fuel was designed. Hydrogen was generated from the catalytic hydrolysis of sodium borohydride (NaBH4), and both single and successive loadings were performed with excess of water (x = 16), at room temperature, in the presence of a powder unsupported Ni–Ru reused catalyst. The obtained results give emphasis to the importance of the reactor geometry and reveals the aptitude of the catalyst to be reused during successive loads of fuel without any treatment and minor loss of activity. Overall, the generated data from this work may provide novel insights to establish a hydrogen based economy for portable applications.