Hydrogen generation from lithium borohydride solution over nano-sized platinum dispersed on LiCoO2

A stoichiometric amount of hydrogen was generated by catalytic hydrolysis reaction of lithium borohydride solution over nano-sized platinum dispersed on LiCoO2 (Pt-LiCoO2). The catalyst was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS). Analysis showed that the particles size of platinum was about 2nm and they are dispersed on LiCoO2. The H2 generation rate was expressed by the zero order rate equation and increased with an increase of the catalyst content. Compared with a mixture of Pt and LiCoO2, catalytic properties of Pt-LiCoO2 was superior. The reason proposed for the higher catalytic activity of Pt-LiCoO2 was the small platinum particle size.