An efficient bio‐inspired catalytic tool for hydrogen release at room temperature from a stable borohydride solution.

Summary: Commercially available open‐cell polyurethane foams (OCPUF) have been successively functionalized with bio‐inspired polydopamine coating (OCPUF@PDA), and activated with cobalt nanoparticles (OCPUF@PDA@Co). The resulting soft structured catalytic support (S2CS) has been used as a highly efficient tool for the release of dihydrogen from a commercially available alkaline sodium borohydride solution at room temperature. With a diluted solution containing 0.4 wt% NaBH4 and 0.4 wt% NaOH, the hydrogen generation rate was of 76.4 ± 3.18 L·h−1·gcat−1 after stabilization of the catalytic activity. The catalytic tool could be used for 10 runs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]