Stability and kinetic studies of MOF‐derived carbon‐confined ultrafine Co catalyst for sodium borohydride hydrolysis

Summary A mesoporous carbon‐confined cobalt (Co@C) catalyst was fabricated by pyrolysis of macroscale Co‐metal–organic framework (MOF) crystals and used to catalyze NaBH 4 hydrolysis for hydrogen production. To reveal the structural changes of cobalt nanoparticles, we characterized the fresh and used Co@C catalysts using X‐ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM), transmission electron microscope (TEM), and N 2 adsorption. This MOF‐derived Co@C exhibits high and stable activity toward NaBH 4 hydrolysis. No obvious agglomeration of Co nanoparticles occurred after five consecutive runs, implying good resistance of Co@C composite to metal aggregation. The kinetics of NaBH 4 hydrolysis was experimentally studied by changing initial NaBH 4 concentration, NaOH concentration, and catalyst dosage, respectively. It was found that the hydrogen generation rate follows a power law: r  =  A  exp (−45.0/ RT )[ NaBH 4 ] 0.985 [ cat ] 1.169 [ NaOH ] −0.451 .