Research Of Ni-Based Catalysts For Hydrogen Generation From NaBH₄ Hydrolysis

Energy is crucial to the development of human society. It is pressing to develop renewable energy under the circumstances that the fossil energy is giving out. Hydrogen energy is universally acknowledged clean. It only consumes Oxygen to combustion and the sole product is water. There are still some technical problems in hydrogen energy application. NaBH4 is the most promising hydrogen storage material since its non-toxic, non-flammable and the hydrolysis product NaBO2 is environmentally friendly. Additionally, NaBO2 is able to recycle to produce NaBH4.Catalyst is the key problem of NaBH4 hydrolysis. Although noble metal has prominent activity in NaBH4 hydrolysis, they can not be widely used in practice because of the high cost. Therefore, it is necessary to develop non-noble metal catalysts. Based on the previous studies by other researchers, the main work of this paper is listed as follows:Studied the effect of preparation conditions on the activity of Ni-B catalyst, such as different forms of precursor, preparation temperatures, quantity of reductant and the concentration of reductant. The optimum condition was chosen to prepare Ni-B catalyst. The scanning electron microscope (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and BET were used to study the surface morphology and structure of Ni-B catalyst. The kinetic study of NaBH4 hydrolysis employing Ni-B catalyst, including the concentration of NaBH4 and NaOH, temperature and the quantity of catalyst were discussed. Researched the effect of preparation conditions on the activity of Ni-Fe-B catalyst, such as preparation temperatures, the Fe/(Ni+Fe) molar ratio, quantity of reductant and the concentration of reductant. The result shows that the catalyst prepared at higher temperature performed better activity than that prepared at low temperature. The optimum Fe/(Ni+Fe) molar ratio is 30%. The kinetic of NaBH4 hydrolysis employing 30% Ni-Fe-B catalyst were studied. The apparatus for alkali mist removement from the hydrogen flow, which generated from the hydrolysis of NaBH4, was assembled. The pH value and the conductivity of the sample solution were measured every 24 hours. The results show that the efficiency of removing alkali mist from hydrogen flow is remarkable.