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Highlights: [•] Co-B catalyst particles were supported over three type of mesoporous silica of different pore sizes. [•] Co-B supported over SBA-15 showed highest H2 generation rate for hydrolysis of AB. [•] Confinement of Co-B within the pores creates smaller NPs (6nm) with uniform size distribution. [•] Thicker pore walls of SBA-15 avoid agglomeration of Co-B NPs at elevated temperature (873K). [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Co-P-B catalyst coatings have been synthesized on Ni-foam by using electroless deposition (ED) and their catalytic activity was investigated by catalytic dehydrogenation of ammonia borane (AB, NH3BH3) for H2 generation. Co-P-B catalyst (both in form of powder and coating) showed superior catalytic activity in hydrolysis reaction of AB than that of Co-B powder, with complete evolution of H2 (97%) at very high rate (2l/min/gcatalyst). This was mainly attributed to synergic effect caused by B and P over Co active sites to lower the activation energy of the process. For thermolysis reaction, it was observed that AB loaded on Co-P-B/Ni catalyst releases first mole of H2 at considerably low temperature starting at 50°C and with desorption peak centered at 80°C. To our knowledge this value is the lowest reported for solid state catalyst. Moreover, the catalytic thermolysis did not present any induction time and minimizes the formation of undesirable byproduct like borazine and ammonia. The present result suggests that Co-P-B coated on Ni is a highly efficient and low cost catalyst and can be used for both hydrolysis as well as thermolysis reaction of NH3BH3 with the important advantage that it can be easily recovered and repeatedly reused. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Nanoparticle-assembled Co-B thin films were synthesized by Pulsed Laser Deposition (PLD) and used as catalysts for the hydrolysis of NH3BH3 (ammonia borane, AB) to produce molecular hydrogen. Amorphous Co-B-based catalyst powders, produced by chemical reduction of cobalt salts, were used as target material for Co-B thin film catalysts preparation through PLD. Surface morphology of Co-B powder and film catalyst was studied using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM). Compositional and structural characterizations were carried out using X-photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) techniques, respectively. The efficiency of both powder and film catalysts was tested by comparative kinetic analysis of the AB hydrolysis for hydrogen production. It was observed that nanoparticles produced during the laser ablation process act as active catalytic centers to produce significantly higher rate (about 6 times) of H2 than the same amount of the corresponding Co-B powders. Almost complete conversion (95%) of AB was obtained, as confirmed by 11B NMR, by using Co-B films at room temperature. Active Co-B nanoparticles on the surface of the PLD-deposited films is able to decrease the activation energy, for hydrolysis of AB, to the very low value of 34kJmol−1. We also found that by adding small amount of NaBH4 to the NH3BH3 solution increases the efficiency of the Co-B catalyst films, thus generating H2 with higher rate. Maximum H2 generation rate of about ∼8.2LH2 min−1 (g of Co)−1 and ∼13LH2 min−1 (g of Co)−1 was measured by hydrolysis of AB and mixture of (AB+NaBH4) solutions, respectively. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]