Facile synthesis of a hollow Ni–Fe–B nanochain and its enhanced catalytic activity for hydrogen generation from NaBH(4) hydrolysis

A hollow Ni–Fe–B nanochain is successfully synthesized by a galvanic replacement method using a Fe–B nanocomposite and a NiCl(2) solution as the template and additional reagent, respectively. Both the concentration of Ni and the morphology of the resulting Ni–Fe–B alloy are controlled by varying the duration of the replacement process during the synthesis. The Ni–Fe–B sample synthesized for 60 min (Ni–Fe–B-60) shows the best catalytic activity at 313 K, with a hydrogen production rate of 4320 mL min(−1) g(cat)(−1) and an activation energy for the NaBH(4) hydrolysis reaction of 33.7 kJ mol(−1). The good performance of Ni–Fe–B-60 towards the hydrolysis of NaBH(4) can be ascribed to both hollow nanochain structural and electronic effects. Furthermore, the effects of temperature, catalyst amount, and concentration of NaOH and NaBH(4) on the hydrolysis process are systematically studied, and an overall kinetic rate equation is obtained. The hollow Ni–Fe–B nanochain catalyst also shows good reusability characteristics and maintained its initial activity after 5 consecutive cycles.