Synergistic Co-Fe-Mo nanoparticles on a leaching-resistant SiO2-melamine-formaldehyde support for robust and high-performance NaBH4 hydrolysis

NaBH 4 hydrolysis can supply hydrogen safely and on demand, provided the catalyst is both cheap and long-lived. Here, trimetallic Co-Fe-Mo nanoparticles were grown on a SiO 2 support wrapped in a thin melamine–formaldehyde (MF) layer, added to protect the silica from alkaline leaching. XRD, BET, XPS, Raman, FTIR, TGA, and electron microscopy confirmed metal anchoring without disturbing the support. The optimal formulation, 40 wt% Co-Fe-Mo on 0.1 g support, delivered 12,646 mL.min −1 .gcat −1 of hydrogen at a turnover frequency of 0.402 s −1 (30 °C, 1 wt% NaBH 4 , 5 wt% NaOH), outperforming most reported cobalt-based catalysts without an energy-intensive synthesis route. Kinetic fitting with nth-order and Langmuir-Hinshelwood formulations returned activation energies of 51.7 and 52.4 kJ.mol −1 . Across five reuse cycles the catalyst held ∼99% NaBH 4 conversion, with post-cycling HR-FESEM, XRD, Raman and FTIR showing no structural degradation. These results position Co-Fe-Mo/SiO 2 -MF as a durable, non-noble-metal catalyst suited to scaled-up hydrogen generation.