A synergistic effect between nanoconfinement of carbon aerogels and catalysis of CoNiB nanoparticles on dehydrogenation of LiBH4

•LiBH4 confined into CoNiB-loaded carbon aerogels was successfully synthesized.•Confinement and catalysis form a synergetic effect on desorption properties.•The sample LiBH4@CA@CoNiB exhibits excellent thermodynamics and kinetics.•14.50 wt% H2 is released from LiBH4@CA@CoNiB at 400 °C within 300 min.•The activation energy of LiBH4 doped with CA@CoNiB is reduced to be 46.39 kJ/mol.

A synergistic effect of nanoconfinement and catalyzing is a new strategy to enhance the dehydrogenation properties of complex hydrides. Herein, LiBH4 has been infiltrated into a CoNiB-loaded carbon aerogels system (donated as LiBH4@CA@CoNiB). It is found that the desorption performances of LiBH4 are significantly strengthened. The onset desorption temperature of LiBH4@CA@CoNiB is decreased to 192 °C, and majority of the liberation occurs at about 320 °C, much lower than that of pure LiBH4. Also, about 15.9 wt% H2 could be released below 600 °C. Furthermore, LiBH4 doped with CA@CoNiB exhibits an excellent desorption kinetics, with a capacity of 9.33 wt% H2 released in 30 min at 350 °C, while only 2.13 wt% H2 is gained for bulk LiBH4. In addition, the apparent activation energy (Ea) is reduced sharply from 59.00 kJ/mol (pure LiBH4) to 46.39 kJ/mol.