Title : Catalytic materials of cobalt alloys for hydrogen generation
Abstract:
I t is well known that noble metals catalysts like gold, platinum and other its alloys effectively catalyze the catalytic hydrolysis of sodium borohydride. However, such catalysts are very expensive and its application is not viable. In this study we present nobel metals free, low-cost, different compositions cobalt catalysts which have been successfully prepared by the electroless plating method on the copper surface using morpholine borane as a reducing agent in the glycine soliutions. The cobalt coatings were deposited with small amounts of different metals such as iron, manganese, molybdenum, cerium and zinc. The catalytic activity of the different cobalt alloys catalysts towards the hydrolysis of alkaline sodium borohydride solution has been investigated under different conditions by measuring the amount of hydrogen generated. The volume and the rate of hydrogen generated in the presence of catalysts were measured by using a water-displacement method. In order to make comparison activity of the catalysts, the activation energy of the hydrolysis reaction of NaBH4 was determined by using the Arrhenius equation. It was found that the all prepared catalysts show promising catalytic activities for hydrogen generation from the sodium borohydride solution, however the highest hydrogen evolution rate and the lowest activation energy were obtained on the cobalt alloy doped molybdenum catalyst compared with other as-prepared catalysts. The as-prepared cobalt-molybdenum catalyst shows higher catalytic activity for hydrogen generation from sodium borohydride solution compared to catalytic activity of other catalysts obtained by the authors which is given in the literature.
