Regulation of hydrogen generation from NaBH4 core encapsulated by dopamine-containing polymeric shell

Abstract

Excessive pressure difference between hydrogen and oxygen generated from sodium borohydride might destroy proton exchange membrane, and too fast hydrogen production rate could even give rise to dangerous battery explosion. So it was urgent to encapsulate the surface of sodium borohydride with a controllable responsive polymeric shell for achieving the effective regulation of hydrogen generation. In this work, a core-shell capsule with sodium borohydride as the core and dopamine-containing copolymer as the shell was prepared. Transmission Electron Microscopy, Energy Dispersive X-Ray Spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectra and Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy verified successful synthesis of the desired capsule. The encapsulated sodium borohydride exhibited good chemical stability and reversible photo-crosslinking under ultraviolet light irradiation. The dopamine-containing copolymer as the shell layer could effectively protect sodium borohydride core layer from the damage of surrounding aquifer media. Hydrogen generation determination indicated that the rate and yield of hydrogen production of core-shell capsule could be well regulated to cope with the change of external conditions such as pH, sodium chloride and ultraviolet light. It seemed that core-shell capsule with the copolymeric encapsulation might have great potential application prospects in fuel cells.