High-capacity hydrogen release through hydrolysis of NaB sub(3H) sub(8)

NaB sub(3H) sub(8) has advantages over NaBH sub(4 and NH) sub(3)BH sub(3, two most widely studied chemical hydrides for hydrogen storage via hydrolysis. NaB) sub(3)H sub(8 has an extraordinary high solubility in water and thus possesses a high theoretical capacity of 10.5 wt% H via hydrolysis, in contrast to 7.5 wt% for NaBH) sub(4) and 5.1 wt% for NH sub(3BH) sub(3). NaB sub(3H) sub(8) is reasonably stable in water which makes it unnecessary to add corrosive NaOH as a stabilizer as the case for NaBH sub(4. Furthermore, hydrolysis of NaB) sub(3)H sub(8 can be catalyzed by a Co-based catalyst with fast kinetics that is comparable to Ru-based catalysts. Therefore, cost-effective hydrolysis of NaB) sub(3)H sub(8 is possible for practical applications. A high capacity of 7.4 wt% H was achieved when water was included in the materials weight.)