Modified multi-wall carbon nanotubes as metal free catalyst for application in H2 production from methanolysis of NaBH4

Abstract

Multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) are modified by acid treatments to obtain MWCNT-COOHs and used as metal free catalyst directly in H2 generation from the methanolysis of sodium borohydride (NaBH4). The chemically modified MWCNT-COOHs are characterized with Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FT-IR) and zeta potential measurements. The H2 generation reactions are proceeded at different reaction conditions to determine the optimum reaction parameters such as the concentration of NaBH4 and temperature, the reusability of catalyst, and the regeneration of catalyst. The MWCNT-COOHs are found to be very effective catalyst in comparison to the metal nanoparticle catalyzed H2 generation reactions from the methanolysis of NaBH4. Thus, hydrogen generation rate (HGR) is calculated as 8766 ± 477 mL H2 g−1 min−1 for 500 mM NaBH4 in 20 mL methanol in presence of 50 mg MWCNT-COOH. Furthermore, the activation energy (Ea) for the methanolysis of NaBH4 in presence of MWCNT-COOHs is computed as 20.1 ± 1.4 kJ mol-1, comparable with most of the reported metal nanoparticle based catalyst in the literature.