Carbon dots-derived nanosheets supporting CoB catalysts enable rapid hydrogen generation from NaBH4 hydrolysis

The hydrolysis of NaBH 4 is a promising method for hydrogen generation. However, the reaction rate is very slow without suitable catalysts, making the development of efficient non-noble-metal catalysts a key research focus. In this work, we successfully prepared carbon dots-derived nanosheets (CDNS) and used them as a support for loading CoB particles, resulting in CoB/CDNS catalysts. The effects of different heating temperatures and metal loading amounts on the hydrogen generation rate (HGR) of NaBH 4 hydrolysis were systematically studied through structural characterization and performance testing. The experimental results demonstrated that the optimal Co 2 B/CDNS 600 catalyst exhibited superior catalytic activity, achieving an HGR of 5333 ± 65 mL H2 ·g − 1 Co–B ·min − 1 and an apparent activation energy of 38.9 ± 2.2 kJ·mol −1 . After five cycles, this catalyst retained 60.42 %–70.62 % of its initial performance. This retention is attributed to the presence of more defects and abundant functional groups in CDNS 600 as catalyst carrier. Consequently, the agglomeration of CoB particles with appropriate loading amounts was effectively suppressed. This work establishes a new pathway for developing efficient cobalt-containing catalysts for heterogeneous catalysis to rapidly generate hydrogen.