Superior hydrogen generation from sodium borohydride hydrolysis catalyzed by the bimetallic Co–Ru/C nanocomposite

Sodium borohydride has been widely regarded as a promising hydrogen carrier owing to its greatly hydrogen storing capability (10.8 wt%), high weight density and excellent stability in alkaline solutions. Herein, we first design and synthesize a series of bimetallic M-Ru/C nanocomposites (including Fe–Ru/C, Co–Ru/C, Ni–Ru/C and Cu–Ru/C), via simply alloying of commercial Ru/C with nonprecious metal, for superior H 2 evolution from the NaBH 4 hydrolysis. The result exhibits that H 2 generation is synergetically improved by alloying Ru/C with Co or Ni, while it is hindered by alloying Ru/C with Fe or Cu. Indeed, Co–Ru/C presents the highest efficient catalytic activity for H 2 generation, with the TOF of 117.69 mol(H 2 )·mol Ru −1 ·min −1 , whereas Ru/C is only 57.08 mol(H 2 )·mol Ru −1 ·min −1 . In addition, the TOF of Co–Ru/C reaches to 436.51 mol(H 2 )·mol Ru −1 ·min −1 (96.7 L(H 2 )·g Ru −1 ·min −1 ) in the presence of NaOH.