Preparation of an efficient and reusable cobalt doped vermiculite ore catalyst for hydrogen production from sodium borohydride

In this study, the applicability of a Co2+-doped catalyst [(Co-Ver)cat] fabricated from clay vermiculite ore for the synthesis of hydrogen from sodium borohydride was investigated. FT-IR, XRD, SEM, Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) analysis, and X-ray fluorescence (XRF) studies were used to characterize the synthesized (Co-Ver)cat. After activation with 1 M HCl, 0.15 g the 30% Co2+-doped catalyst (7% NaOH, 2.5% NaBH4, 30 degrees C process temperature) produced the maximum catalytic activity. Under these conditions, the hydrogen generation rate of 1991,39 ml gCo(-1) min(-1) was achieved with the (Co-Ver)cat. The NaBH4 hydrolysis reaction had an activation energy of 43.58 kJ mol(-1) and a reaction rate order (n) of 0.18. It was also determined that the prepared (Co-Ver)cat exhibited good reusability. The reusability of the (Co-Ver)cat prepared from vermiculite ore was high, and 91.78% of the expected hydrogen amount was obtained as a result of its 10th use.