Highly efficient hydrogen evolution from the hydrolysis of ammonia borane solution with the Co–Mo–B/NF nanocatalyst

Yan Wang, Kailu Zou, Dan Wang, Wei Meng, Nan Qi, Zhongqiu Cao, Ke Zhang, Honghui Chen and Guode Li

Renewable Energy, 2020, vol. 154, issue C, 453-460

Abstract: Catalytic hydrolysis of ammonia borane (NH3BH3) is considered as a secure and effective way to supply hydrogen (H2) source for the proton exchange membrane fuel cell. Hence, cheap and high activity catalysts need to be exploited. In this work, a series of cobalt–molybdenum–boron (Co–Mo–B) composites were successfully supported on the surface of Ni foam (NF in short) via electroless plating method by tuning the depositional pH values. The as-prepared nanocatalysts were marked as Co–Mo–B/NF and characterized using the inductively coupled plasma-mass spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, X–ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy technology. These catalysts showed highly efficient catalytic performance for H2 evolution toward the hydrolysis of NH3BH3 solution, and the optimized Co–Mo–B/NF nanocatalyst deposited at pH = 11.5 achieved a higher H2 evolution rate of 6027.1 mL·min−1·g−1 under ambient temperature. The kinetics tests displayed that hydrolysis reaction catalyzed by Co–Mo–B/NF was zero-order in terms of the NH3BH3 concentration, while it was first-order in view of the catalyst concentration. In addition, the activation energy of NH3BH3 hydrolysis was calculated to be 43.6 kJ·mol−1 with the Co–Mo–B/NF nanocatalyst (pH = 11.5), which was lower than that of most of the previous precious metal and non-precious metal catalysts. The corresponding Gibbs free energy of activation was 43.1 kJ·mol−1, meaning that NH3BH3 hydrolysis reaction was non-spontaneous.

Keywords: Ammonia borane; Co–Mo–B/Ni foam nanocatalyst; Hydrolysis; Kinetics; Thermodynamics (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:renene:v:154:y:2020:i:c:p:453-460

DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2020.03.032

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