Co3O4 nanowires as efficient catalyst precursor for hydrogen generation from sodium borohydride hydrolysis

Hydrogen generation from the catalytic hydrolysis of sodium borohydride has many advantages, and therefore, significant research has been undertaken on the development of highly efficient catalysts for this purpose. In our present work, Co3O4 nanowires were successfully synthesized as catalyst precursor by employing SBA-15 as a hard template. For material characterization, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), fouriertransform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP-AES) and N-2 adsorption isotherms were employed, respectively. To measure the catalyst activity, typical water-displacement method was carried out. Using a reaction solution comprising 10wt.% NaBH4 and 2 wt.% NaOH, the hydrogen generation rate (HGR) was observed to be as high as 7.74 L min(-1) g(-1) at 25 degrees C in the presence of Co3O4 nanowires, which is significantly higher than that of CoB nanoparticles and commercial Co3O4 powder. Apparent activation energy was calculated to be 50.9 kJ mol(-1). After recycling the Co3O4 nanowires six times, HGR was decreased to be 72.6% of the initial level.