In situ evolved defective TiO2 as robust support for CoB-catalyzed hydrolysis of NaBH4

Sodium borohydride (NaBH 4 ) has been proposed to be a realizable hydrogen supplier for proton-exchange membrane fuel cell. Cobalt boride (CoB) is one of the most promising non-precious metal-based catalysts toward NaBH 4 hydrolysis. In this work, we develop a facile method to synthesize defects-rich TiO 2 supported CoB nanoparticles (CoB/TiO 2- x ). In this CoB/TiO 2- x , an electronic metal-support interaction is induced by transferring electrons from the defective TiO 2 to CoB to form electron-rich CoB particles, facilitating the hydrolysis of NaBH 4 . The as-synthesized CoB/TiO 2- x catalyst shows a good catalytic performance with hydrogen generation rate of 3070 mL min −1 g Co −1 and activation energy of 57.03 kJ mol −1 .