Investigation the performance of cupper-iron nano-catalyst in sodium borohydride hydrolysis and hydrogen generation

Use of environmentally friendly hydrogen (H2) as a clean fuel in massive scale requires safe and efficient storage and generation systems. Sodium borohydride (NaBH4) hydrolysis is one of suitable methods for Hydrogen production. However, requirement to expnsive noble metals catalysts limits its commercial usage. In this research, for development of cheap non-noble metal catalysts with high activity and stability, cupper- iron nano catalysts (Cu-Fe) with different mole ratios of (1:1), (3:1) and (1:3) were synthesized and their performane are compared with each other and with pure Cu. According to obtained results, Cu-Fe catalyst with 1:1 mole ratio has the largest specific surface area (170.4 m2/g) in comparision with other sysnthesized catalysts and pure Cu. Hydrogen generation over this catalyst is five times more than produced hydrogen over pure Cu. Then, effect of some stablizers such as Polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP), tetradecyltrimethylammo- nium bromide (TTAB), sodium dodecyl benzene sulphonate (SDBS) and Triton X-100 on Cu:Fe (1:1) performanec are investigated. It was shown that produced hydrogen over Cu:Fe (1:1) stablized Triton-X-100 catalyst is 35% higher than Cu:Fe (1:1) catalyst without stabilizer. Also, the stability of this catalyst is significat and it maintains 70% of its original activity after five usage periods of NaBH4 hydrolysis. Ultimatley, Cu:Fe (1:1) stablized Triton-X-100 nano catalyst can be utilized as an active and stable catalyst for NaBH4 hydrolysis and H2 generation.