In situ synthesis of cobalt-based tri-metallic nanosheets as highly efficient catalysts for sodium borohydride hydrolysis

The well dispersed magnetically recyclable tri-metallic nanosheets with non-noble metallic elements have been successfully synthesized via a facile one-step in situ procedure using sodium borohydride (NaBH4) as the reducing agent. The 2-D metal nanosheets exhibit higher catalytic activities for hydrolytic dehydrogenation of NaBH4 than those traditional mono-metallic, bimetallic and trimetallic alloy nanoparticles. The synergetic interaction between Co and Ni in CuCoNi nanosheets may play a critical role in the enhanced catalytic activity. Furthermore, the kinetic studies indicate that the catalytic hydrolysis of NaBH4 by the CuCoNi nanosheets is first order, with the activation energy measured to be 40.6 kJ mol−1.