An alternative cobalt oxide-supported platinum catalyst for efficient hydrolysis of sodium borohydride

Abstract

This study presents an alternative cobalt (II, III) oxide-supported platinum (Pt/Co₃O₄) catalyst for hydrogen generation in a sodium borohydride (NaBH₄) system for the first time. The Pt/Co₃O₄ exhibits approximately a 410% increase in the hydrogen generation rate compared with pristine Co₃O₄, indicating that the Pt/Co₃O₄ is an efficient catalyst to generate hydrogen for NaBH₄ hydrolysis. Both the Co K-edge and the Pt L_III-edge results delivered from X-ray absorption near edge structure (XANES) analysis reveal that stable features, including the local structure and the electronic state, are observed after a fifth cycle, suggesting that the Pt/Co₃O₄ has a potential application in NaBH₄ hydrolysis. The catalytic mechanism of the Pt/Co₃O₄ for NaBH₄ hydrolysis is proposed based on the XANES results, which involves catalysis of the NaBH₄ and simultaneous reduction of Pt and Co ions during hydrolysis.