Zn-MOF-74-derived graphene nanosheets supporting CoB alloys for promoting hydrolytic dehydrogenation of sodium borohydride

The development of an efficient tactic for enhancing the catalytic activity toward hydrolytic dehydrogenation of sodium borohydride (NaBH4) is of vital significance but remains a long-standing challenge. In this work, CoB alloys were successfully anchored on MOF-74-derived graphene nanosheets (GNS) via the chemical reduction process. As a catalyst support, GNS can provide a high dispersion of CoB alloys to expose more active sites. Moreover, the existence of a synergistic effect between CoB alloys and GNS is verified by a series of well-designed control experiments. Therefore, a low activation energy (Ea = 38.8 kJ·mol–1) and a high hydrogen generation rate (HGR = 7937 mlH2·min−1·g−1) are simultaneously achieved for the optimized Co1B/GNS catalyst. In addition, Co1B/GNS has decent recyclability, i.e., 58 % of the initial HGR remaining after ten successive cycles of NaBH4 hydrolysis. This work provides a feasible approach for fabricating high-performance non-noble metal catalysts for hydrolytic dehydrogenation of NaBH4. [Display omitted] •GNS was prepared from MOF-74 via a two-step heating strategy.•CoB/GNS exhibits superior catalytic activity toward NaBH4 hydrolysis.•A high HGR of 7937 mlH2·min−1·g−1 and low Ea of 38.8 kJ·mol−1 are simultaneously achieved.•Enhanced performance originates from the alteration of electronic structure and synergistic effect in CoB/GNS.