Copper Nanowires as Highly Efficient and Recyclable Catalyst for Rapid Hydrogen Generation from Hydrolysis of Sodium Borohydride

Hydrogen (H(2)) is a clean energy carrier which can help to solve environmental issues with the depletion of fossil fuels. Sodium borohydride (NaBH(4)) is a promising candidate material for solid state hydrogen storage due to its huge hydrogen storage capacity and nontoxicity. However, the hydrolysis of NaBH(4) usually requires expensive noble metal catalysts for a high H(2) generation rate (HGR). Here, we synthesized high-aspect ratio copper nanowires (CuNWs) using a hydrothermal method and used them as the catalyst for the hydrolysis of NaBH(4) to produce H(2). The catalytic H(2) generation demonstrated that 0.1 ng of CuNWs could achieve the highest volume of H(2) gas in 240 min. The as-prepared CuNWs exhibited remarkable catalytic performance: the HGR of this study (2.7 × 10(10) mL min(−1) g(−1)) is ~3.27 × 10(7) times higher than a previous study on a Cu-based catalyst. Furthermore, a low activation energy (E(a)) of 42.48 kJ mol(−1) was calculated. Next, the retreated CuNWs showed an outstanding and stable performance for five consecutive cycles. Moreover, consistent catalytic activity was observed when the same CuNWs strip was used for four consecutive weeks. Based on the results obtained, we have shown that CuNWs can be a plausible candidate for the replacement of a costly catalyst for H(2) generation.