Hydrogen generation using sodium borohydride solution and metal catalyst coated on metal oxide

Abstract Sodium borohydride (NaBH4) reacted slowly with water to liberate 4 mol of hydrogen/mol of the compound at room temperature. Hydrogen generation was accelerated by applying metal–metal oxide catalysts such as Pt–TiO2, Pt–CoO and Pt–LiCoO2. As the metal crystallites size decreased and the amount increased, the hydrogen generation rate increased. It was indicated that the hydrogen generation rates using Pt and LiCoO2 were high compared with those using other metal and metal oxide, respectively. It seemed that a key finding was that use of the supercritical CO2 method produced a superior catalyst. Borohydride ion was stabilized in alkaline solution containing at least 5% by weight of NaOH. Alkaline stabilized solution of NaBH4 can be applied as a hydrogen source. We found that Pt–LiCoO2 worked as an excellent catalyst for releasing hydrogen from the stabilized NaBH4 solution.