The research of hydrogen generation by sodium borohydride hydrolysis on nickel and cobalt catalysts for portable fuel cell

At present, there is a trend to the increase of the energy demands of portable electronic devices of little and medium capacity, which are distributed more and more widely [1]. Existing batteries already can not assure their long-lasting continuous operation, and battery recharging requires connection to electrical network and takes much time [2]. These problems may be solved by using portable fuel cells (PFC) with replaceable cartridge for fuel storage since their specific parameters and continuous work time are higher than those of the batteries [1]. Hydrogen-air fuel cell with hydrogen generating cartridge is a promising portable power source. Hydrogen is produced in the reaction of hydrolysis of sodium borohydride NaBH4 (SBH) which is stored in the cartridge [3,4]: NaBH4 + 2H2O = NaBO2 + 4H2. The application of SBH is determined by its high hydrogen capacity, the purity of hydrogen produced, and the easiness of SBH storage and transport. In this work the process of SBH interaction with water with and without catalysts in model conditions is studied. On fig. 1 are presented the dependence curves of hydrogen evolution efficiency and average hydrogen evolution rate on mole ratio SBH/water. Hydrogen evolution efficiency and its evolution rate related to SBH mass decreased with increasing the SBH/Н2О mole ratio