Cobalt-nitrogen-doped activated carbons for hydrogen generation

Abstract

The results of the study of a new cobalt-nitrogen-doped catalyst obtained on the basis of pre-oxidized industrial activated carbon with the content of cobalt in 10 and 20 wt% are presented. Their high catalytic activity the reaction of sodium borohydride hydrolysis and hydrogen generation rate achieved is shown. The highest hydrogen generation rate was achieved at 80˚C by the cobalt-nitrogen-doped catalyst with 20% of cobalt with the activation energy 59 kJ/mole. The presence of cobalt combined with nitrogen in salts and complexes in cobalt-nitrogen-doped catalyst was determined and confirmed by the methods of pH-potentiometric titration and adsorption of Hammett indicators. The achieved quantitative indicators of cobalt-nitrogen-doped catalyst are comparable to the most outstanding published ones. It has been proven that the obtained cobalt-nitrogen-doped activated carbon can compete with the existing catalysts of hydrogen evolution from borohydrides based on non-noble metals.