PtCo/g-C3N4 bimetallic catalyst: Boosting hydrogen production in sodium borohydride hydrolysis

Abstract

Developing inexpensive and low-cost heterogeneous catalysts for hydrogen (H-2) release from chemical hydrogen storage materials such as sodium borohydride (NaBH4) is crucial for renewable, sustainable, and clean energy. For this purpose, we prepared an efficient bimetallic Pt0.77Co0.23/g-C3N4 catalyst for hydrogen production from the hydrolysis of NaBH4 and characterized it with advanced spectroscopic techniques, including inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometer (ICP-OES), powder X-ray diffraction (P-XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM), scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDX), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The H-2 released during the hydrolysis of NaBH4 was monitored through water displacement in a burette. The Pt0.77Co0.23/g-C3N4 catalyst exhibited a remarkable hydrogen generation rate (HGR) of 1373.1 mL min(-1) g(-1) at 298 K during NaBH4 hydrolysis. Additionally, the activation parameters were found to be 35.7 kJ/mol (Ea(#)), 38.9 kJ/mol (Delta H-#), and -119.6 J/molK (Delta S-#). Finally, the catalyst's recyclability performance was observed to retain >87.13 % of its catalytic conversion and >60.87 % of the catalytic activity even after the third recycling cycle.