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

Abstract Sodium borohydride (NaBH 4 ) 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–TiO 2 , Pt–CoO and Pt–LiCoO 2 . 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 LiCoO 2 were high compared with those using other metal and metal oxide, respectively. It seemed that a key finding was that use of the supercritical CO 2 method produced a superior catalyst. Borohydride ion was stabilized in alkaline solution containing at least 5% by weight of NaOH. Alkaline stabilized solution of NaBH 4 can be applied as a hydrogen source. We found that Pt–LiCoO 2 worked as an excellent catalyst for releasing hydrogen from the stabilized NaBH 4 solution.