Abstract
Hydrogen (H2) is a clean energy carrier which can help to solve environmental issues with the depletion of fossil fuels. Sodium borohydride (NaBH4) is a promising candidate material for solid state hydrogen storage due to its huge hydrogen storage capacity and nontoxicity. However, the hydrolysis of NaBH4 usually requires expensive noble metal catalysts for a high H2 generation rate (HGR). Here, we synthesized high-aspect ratio copper nanowires (CuNWs) using a hydrothermal method and used them as the catalyst for the hydrolysis of NaBH4 to produce H2. The catalytic H2 generation demonstrated that 0.1 ng of CuNWs could achieve the highest volume of H2 gas in 240 min. The as-prepared CuNWs exhibited remarkable catalytic performance: the HGR of this study (2.7 × 1010 mL min−1 g−1) is ~3.27 × 107 times higher than a previous study on a Cu-based catalyst. Furthermore, a low activation energy (Ea) of 42.48 kJ mol−1 was calculated. Next, the retreated CuNWs showed an outstanding and stable performance for five consecutive cycles. Moreover, consistent catalytic activity was observed when the same CuNWs strip was used for four consecutive weeks. Based on the results obtained, we have shown that CuNWs can be a plausible candidate for the replacement of a costly catalyst for H2 generation.
Highlights
Many researchers have been exploring the use of metal nanocrystals in applications such as catalysis, electrocatalysis, sensor design, antimicrobial materials, and flexible transparent electrodes [1,2,3,4,5,6,7]
We synthesized copper nanowires (CuNWs) by a facile hydrothermal route, and we studied its catalytic performance in the hydrolysis of NaBH4 to produce H2 gas
The results show that CuNWs can catalyze the hydrolysis of NaBH4 by using a continuous flow system
Summary
Many researchers have been exploring the use of metal nanocrystals in applications such as catalysis, electrocatalysis, sensor design, antimicrobial materials, and flexible transparent electrodes [1,2,3,4,5,6,7]. Cu is much cheaper and abundant [9], making it an attractive option to replace the highly expensive and scarce noble metals in various applications [10]. Due to their large surface area-to-volume ratio, Cu nanocrystals are progressively studied for catalysis applications such as the reduction of nitrophenols and H2 generation from the hydrolysis of NaBH4 [11,12]. Due to its low boiling and melting points, the pressure needed for the compression is too high which introduces the risk of leakage and explosion hazard [15]. The lack of effectiveness, safety, and low cost of the H2 carrier limits its commercial availability worldwide [14]
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