Study Of Sodium Borohydride Catalyst For Hydrogen Generation Purdue University Surf Program

Proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFC) need pure form of hydrogen for this metal hydride seems to be one of the best storage media. Amongst hydrides, sodium borohydride, NaBH4 is desirable due to its high hydrogen storage efficiency of 10.80% and the excellent stability of its alkaline solutions. The alkaline borohydride solutions undergo hydrolysis in presence of various transition-metal catalysts to produce hydrogen. The hydrolysis product being borox it can be recycled. For the hydrolysis process of NABH4, various catalysts of Pt, Ru, Ni, Co etc., have been developed for hydrogen production from borohydride solutions and reported in recent years. However, implementation of these catalysts into the fuel cell is a challenge. A summer research project with an undergraduate was launched in developing catalyst for hydrogen generation in PEMFC fuel cell. Catalysts based on chlorides of Co, NI and Ru was developed and was directly deposited on metal foam. The resulting catalyst particles are nanosize and hence provide high catalytic activities in hydrogen generation from sodium borohydride solutions. Experiments were performed on the characterizing hydrogen generation rate as function of temperature and catalysts type. The project was carried under summer undergraduate research fellow (SURF) program.