An alternative cobalt oxide-supported platinum catalyst for efficient hydrolysis of sodium borohydride

This study presents an alternative cobalt (II, III) oxide-supported platinum (Pt/Co3O4) catalyst for hydrogen generation in a sodium borohydride (NaBH4) system for the first time. The Pt/Co3O4 exhibits approximately a 410% increase in the hydrogen generation rate compared with pristine Co3O4, indicating that the Pt/Co3O4 is an efficient catalyst to generate hydrogen for NaBH4 hydrolysis. Both the Co K-edge and the Pt L-III-edge results delivered from X-ray absorption near edge structure (XANES) analysis reveal that stable features, including the local structure and the electronic state, are observed after a fifth cycle, suggesting that the Pt/Co3O4 has a potential application in NaBH4 hydrolysis. The catalytic mechanism of the Pt/Co3O4 for NaBH4 hydrolysis is proposed based on the XANES results, which involves catalysis of the NaBH4 and simultaneous reduction of Pt and Co ions during hydrolysis.