Novel Solid Sodium Borohydride Hydrolysis for Hydrogen Generation in Removable Fuel Cells

Fuel cells using solid sodium borohydride (NaBH4) as a hydrogen source require stable control of its rate of hydrogen production. In this paper, the hydrogen generation by hydrolysis of solid NaBH4 was facilitated by a homemade nickel–cobalt-phosphorus/resin carbon (NiCoP/RC) catalyst, which was synthesized from cobalt chloride hexahydrate, nickel chloride hexahydrate, and aminophosphoric acid chelating resin. Various analytical techniques were employed to characterize the catalyst, and the instantaneous rates and reaction temperatures during the reaction were recorded. The morphology of the solid NaBH4 hydrolysis reaction at different stages was analyzed, and the reaction using NiCoP/RC catalyst was relatively smooth without drastic runaway compared to the commonly used CoCl2 catalyst. By increasing the number of reaction vessels, a higher instantaneous hydrogen generation rate was achieved, which can meet the fuel demand of small fuel cells. The rate fluctuation of the hydrolysis process was further alleviated by adjusting the water inlet mode to intermittent water feed, and the hydrogen generation rate could be stabilized at 275 mL/min for more than 1 h when running four reaction vessels in parallel.