Synthesis of Cobalt Phosphates and their Catalytic Properties of the Hydrogen Generation from the Hydrolysis of NaBH₄

Amorphous cobalt phosphates were synthesized with their distinct morphology by controlling the amount of base in the syn-thetic condition. The crystallinity and morphology of cobalt phosphates were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The prepared cobalt phosphates were applied as a heterogeneous catalyst for generating hydrogen gas from the hydrolysis reaction of sodium borohydride. We found that the catalyst prepared using the least amount of base condition at room temperature showed a plate shape with less than 10 nm thickness, which resulted in the best cata-lytic activity among all catalysts due to the large surface area. Keywords: cobalt phosphate, hydrogen generation, heterogeneous catalyst, sodium borohydride 1)1. , [1,2]. , , [3.4]. 19.5 wt% (NH