Improved hydrogen generation from alkaline NaBH4NaBH4 solution using carbon-supported Co–BCo–B as catalysts

Carbon-supported Co–B catalysts with various loading contents were prepared by impregnation–chemical reduction method. The XRD, ICP, SEM and TEM analyses revealed that the as-prepared Co–B catalysts were in amorphous form with the composition of Co2.0–3.3BCo2.0–3.3B and the carbon-supported Co–B catalysts had a good dispersion and coating condition. The hydrogen generation measurement showed that the average hydrogen generation rate at 25∘C was 1127.2mLmin-1g-1 for unsupported Co–B catalyst, while it was 1268.1, 1482.1 and 2073.1mLmin-1g-1 for the carbon-supported catalysts with the Co–B loading of 30.0, 15.6 and 7.44 wt%, respectively. The activation energy of the 30.0 wt% Co–B loading catalyst for the hydrogen generation reaction was measured to be 57.8kJmol-1. Compared with the unsupported Co–B catalyst, the as-prepared carbon-supported catalysts presented higher activity for hydrolysis of NaBH44 aqueous solution, indicating their potential application in mobile hydrogen production for fuel cells.