Nickel boride alloys as catalysts for successive hydrogen generation from sodium borohydride solution
(1. School of Chemical Engineering and the Environment, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing 100081, China;
2. National Development Center for High Technology Green Materials, Beijing 100081, China)
2. National Development Center for High Technology Green Materials, Beijing 100081, China)
Abstract: Nickel boride alloys, Ni-B, were prepared using chemical reduction method by the reaction of metal chloride with sodium borohydride, and heat-treated at various temperatures. The structures of the as-prepared alloys were studied using X-ray diffractometry (XRD), scanning electronic microscopy (SEM) and nitrogen adsorption-desorption analysis. When being adopted as the catalysts for successive hydrogen generation from sodium borohydride solution, the Ni-B alloy treated at 90 ℃ achieves a maximum hydrogen generation rate of 15.4 L/(min∙g), and an average hydrogen generation rate of 13.6 L/min, which can give successive hydrogen supply to a 2.2 kW PEMFC at a hydrogen utilization of 100%.
Key words: proton exchange membrane fuel cell; hydrogen generation; Ni-B alloy; catalyst