Preparation and Characteristics of Novel Cobalt Oxide Catalysts for Hydrogen Generation from Metal Borohydride Solution

Abstract

For the first time, a high performance cobalt oxide catalyst for hydrogen generation has been developed in a cost-effective way. The novel cobalt oxide catalyst was prepared by microwave-assisted thermal oxidation of cobalt metal. Microwave heating produced cobalt oxide from cobalt metal powder within 10 min through oxidation and consolidation simultaneously. An as-synthesized cobalt oxide catalyst (a centimeter-sized chip) has revealed high activity for the catalytic hydrolysis of sodium borohydride (