Hydrogen production from hydrolysis of NaBH4 solution over Co–Fe–B@g-C3N4/NF thin film catalyst

In this study, the double loaded Co–Fe–B@g-C₃N₄/NF (NF: Ni foam) thin film catalysts were prepared for the first time via chemical deposition method at room temperature. By optimizing the reducing agent concentration to 0.9 mol·L⁻¹, the as-obtained Co–Fe–B@g-C₃N₄/NF exhibited the twisted ribbon structure with more distinct three-dimensional hierarchy and the smaller particle size, showing the good catalytic property for the hydrolysis of NaBH₄ solution. The H₂ generation rate of Co–Fe–B@g-C₃N₄/NF and binary Co–B@g-C₃N₄/NF under visible light irradiation surpassed the value under natural condition. The apparent activation energy of Co–Fe–B@g-C₃N₄/NF (45.0 kJ·mol⁻¹) under visible light irradiation was obviously reduced when compared with the natural condition (48.4 kJ·mol⁻¹) and binary Co–B@g-C₃N₄/NF (60.6 kJ·mol⁻¹) under visible light irradiation. Furthermore, the catalytic performance of the optimized Co–Fe–B@g-C₃N₄/NF thin film catalyst was superior to most of the reported non-noble metal and even noble metal catalysts. Hence, it illustrated that the catalytic H₂ production performance of Co–Fe–B@g-C₃N₄/NF thin film was distinctly improved after the introduction of light and multicomponent recombination.

Graphical abstract