Hydrogen generation using Pt/Ni bimetallic nanoparticles supported on Fe3O4@SiO2@TiO2 multi-shell microspheres

Sodium borohydride (NaBH4) is one of the most popular reagents used to store large amounts of hydrogen. Noble metals (Pt and Pd) as heterogeneous catalysts are commonly utilized to accelerate the NaBH4 hydrolysis for H-2 evolution. To overcome the high-production costs for such metals and to enhance their catalytic performance, extensive studies on bimetallic catalysts have been broadly conducted. In liquid reactions, nanoparticles (NPs) of these metals can be implemented as active catalysts. However, unsupported NP catalysts readily aggregate between neighboring NPs, and their separation/recovery is not efficient with conventional methods. Therefore, herein, the magnetic-core and multi-shell silica/titania configuration was designed and bimetallic Pt/Ni NPs were embedded in Fe3O4@SiO2@TiO2 for H-2 generation from NaBH4 hydrolysis. Over multiple runs, Pt/Ni NPs on Fe3O4@SiO2-Pt/Ni@TiO2 samples were successfully isolated and dispersed in the interlayer between the SiO2 inner-shell and the TiO2 outer-shell. (C) 2019 The Korean Society of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.