Core-shell NaBH4 @Ni Nanoarchitectures: A Platform for Tunable Hydrogen Storage

Muhammad Saad Salman; Yuwei Yang; Muhammad Zubair; Nicholas M Bedford; Kondo-Francois Aguey-Zinsou

doi:10.1002/cssc.202200664

Core-shell NaBH₄ @Ni Nanoarchitectures: A Platform for Tunable Hydrogen Storage

ChemSusChem. 2022 Sep 7;15(17):e202200664. doi: 10.1002/cssc.202200664. Epub 2022 Jul 13.

Authors

Muhammad Saad Salman^{1

2}, Yuwei Yang³, Muhammad Zubair³, Nicholas M Bedford³, Kondo-Francois Aguey-Zinsou²

Affiliations

¹ MERLin, School of Chemical Engineering, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia.
² MERLin, School of Chemistry, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia.
³ School of Chemical Engineering, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia.

Abstract

The core-shell approach has surfaced as an attractive strategy to make complex hydrides reversible for hydrogen storage; however, no synthetic method exists for taking advantage of this approach. Here, a detailed investigation was undertaken to effectively design freestanding core-shell NaBH₄ @Ni nanoarchitectures and correlate their hydrogen properties with structure and chemical composition. It was shown that the Ni shell growth on the surface of NaBH₄ particles could be kinetically and thermodynamically controlled. The latter led to varied hydrogen properties. Near-edge X-ray absorption fine structure analysis confirmed that control over the Ni⁰ /Ni_x B_y concentrations upon Ni^II reduction led to a destabilized hydride system. Hydrogen release from the sphere, cube, and bar-like core-shell nanoarchitectures occurred at around 50, 90, and 95 °C, respectively, compared to the bulk (>500 °C). This core-shell approach, when extended to other hydrides, could open new avenues to decipher structure-property correlation in hydrogen storage/generation.

Keywords: borohydrides; core-shell; hydrides; hydrogen storage; nanostructures.

Abstract

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