Facile synthesis of a hollow Ni-Fe-B nanochain and its enhanced catalytic activity for hydrogen generation from NaBH₄ hydrolysis.

ABSTRACT: A hollow Ni-Fe-B nanochain is successfully synthesized by a galvanic replacement method using a Fe-B nanocomposite and a NiCl₂ solution as the template and additional reagent, respectively. Both the concentration of Ni and the morphology of the resulting Ni-Fe-B alloy are controlled by varying the duration of the replacement process during the synthesis. The Ni-Fe-B sample synthesized for 60 min (Ni-Fe-B-60) shows the best catalytic activity at 313 K, with a hydrogen production rate of 4320 mL min^-1 g_cat ^-1 and an activation energy for the NaBH₄ hydrolysis reaction of 33.7 kJ mol^-1. The good performance of Ni-Fe-B-60 towards the hydrolysis of NaBH₄ can be ascribed to both hollow nanochain structural and electronic effects. Furthermore, the effects of temperature, catalyst amount, and concentration of NaOH and NaBH₄ on the hydrolysis process are systematically studied, and an overall kinetic rate equation is obtained. The hollow Ni-Fe-B nanochain catalyst also shows good reusability characteristics and maintained its initial activity after 5 consecutive cycles.

SUBMITTER: Guo J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9082892 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature