Engineering of the ferrite-based support for enhanced performance of supported Pt, Pd, Ru, and Rh catalysts in hydrogen generation from NaBH4 hydrolysis

A series of M/NiCo-Ferrite (M: Pt, Pd, Ru, and Rh) nanoparticles were successfully synthesized, through a facile sol-gel auto-combustion followed by impregnation-reduction approach, as a catalyst for hydrogen generation from hydrolysis of NaBH₄. All synthesized samples were characterized by XRD, N₂ adsorption-desorption method, ICP-OES, FE-SEM, and EDX analysis. Compared to the other samples, it was observed that the Rh/NiCo-Ferrite sample exhibited higher particle distribution and surface area. To evaluate the hydrogen generation rate, the hydrolysis was carried out at a temperature of 35 °C, with an aqueous solution containing 5 wt.% NaBH₄ and 3 wt.% NaOH. The experimental findings indicate that the Rh/NiCo-Ferrite sample exhibited a superior rate of hydrogen generation, with an average value of 11,667 mL/min.g_cat, compared to the other samples studied. Enhanced catalytic properties may be responsible for its high activity. In addition, the activation energy of hydrolysis of sodium borohydride over the Rh/NiCo-Ferrite sample was 54.5 kJ/mol which is lower than the activation energy of many Ferrite-based catalysts. Moreover, the re-usability test of the Rh/NiCo-Ferrite sample denoted a decline in the catalytic activity after 4 recycling experiments due to the alterations in morphology and the reduction in the quantity of active phase.