Effective hydrogen production from sodium borohydride using reusable cobalt based metal-organic framework supported polyurethane sponge

• Co-BTC@PUS was used as a catalyst for hydrogen production via hydrolysis of NaBH 4 . • Co-BTC (172 – 288 nm) was successfully incorporated within PUS . • Hydrogen production was enhanced by factor of 3.2 using Co-BTC@PUS as a catalyst. • H 2 production was enlarged from 99.8 mL to 458.8 mL, by increasing Co-BTC@PUS from 10 mg to 50 mg. • After 6 cycles, the production of hydrogen was marginally decreased by 17.6 %. Hydrogen production was recently considered as a quite promising alternative source for energy. Hydrogen production from hydrolysis of sodium borohydride is quite slow. The exploitation of active catalyst is highly challenged for higher production of hydrogen. Herein, Co-BTC@PUS is uniquely exploited as a catalyst for hydrogen production via the hydrolysis of sodium borohydride. Co-BTC@PUS was prepared form Cobalt based metal organic framework (Co-BTC) that was currently embedded within polyurethane sponge (PUS). The micrographs showed that spherical Co-BTC particles with diameter of 172 – 288 nm, was clearly incorporated within the sponge like structure of PUS . By increasing the concentration of sodium borohydride from 1 % to 5 %, the amount of hydrogen production was enhanced, while the volume of produced hydrogen was significantly increased from 99.8 mL to 376.4 mL, after 5 h, respectively. Hydrogen production was enhanced by a factor of 3.2 using Co-BTC@PUS as a catalyst. Within 5 h, the produced volume of hydrogen was significantly enlarged from 99.8 mL to 458.8 mL, by increasing the dose of Co-BTC@PUS from 10 mg to 50 mg. Moreover, rate of hydrogen production in the case of the Langmuir-Hinshelwood was largely enhanced by temperature and obtained rate was increased from 25.3 × 10 −2 M/L/min to 92.8 × 10 −2 M/L/min by raising the temperature from 30 °C to 50 °C. After 6 reusing cycles of Co-BTC@PUS, the production of hydrogen was marginally decreased by 17.6 %, reflecting its effective ability of reusability. In summarization, the obtained results reflect the significant advantages for using recyclable catalyst in hydrogen production from sodium borohydride to be applied multi-times with high efficiency.