Preparation of Co–P–B/foam Ni catalyst and its catalytic performance for hydrogen production by hydrolysis of NaBH4 solution

•Co-P-B/foam Ni thin film is successfully prepared by chemical deposition.•Co-P-B/foam Ni exhibits an improved catalytic activity for NaBH4 hydrolysis.•The higher HGR of Co-P-B/foam Ni is 5887 mL min−1 g−1 for NaBH4 hydrolysis.•The obtained Co-P-B/foam Ni shows the good cycle stability after 5 cycles. Sodium borohydride (NaBH4) possesses the relatively high hydrogen capacity, and the hydrogen can be liberated via the hydrolysis method in the presence of a suitable catalyst. In this work, Co-P-B thin film catalyst was successfully prepared by chemical deposition on foam nickel (Co–P–B/foam Ni). By adjusting the depositional pH value from 11.0 to 13.0, the average particle size of the as-obtained Co–P–B/foam Ni decreased first and then increased. When the pH value was 12.0, the particle size of Co-P-B/foam Ni was the smallest. The optimized Co-P-B/foam Ni (pH = 12.0) was employed to catalyzing hydrogen generation from the hydrolysis of NaBH4 solution. The high hydrogen generation rate (HGR) of 5887 mL·min−1·g−1 and lower apparent activation energy of 41.4 kJ·mol−1 were achieved. Moreover, 79.3 % HGR was still maintained for Co-P-B/foam Ni after five cycles, which disclosed the good cycle stability. The enhanced catalytic performance might be due to the smaller particle size, supplying more active sites and larger specific surface area, the synergies between Co, P and B elements, and the choice of unique foam Ni.