Preparation of different thin film catalysts by direct current magnetron sputtering for hydrogen generation

Abstract

In this study, thin films of Co, Ni, Pd, and Pt were prepared on $Co_3O_4$ support material in pellet form using the direct current (DC) magnetron sputtering method for use as catalysts for hydrogen generation from $NaBH_4$ .Characterization of the catalysts was carried out using X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electronic microscopy (SEM), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). According to cross-sectional SEM images, catalyst thicknesses were observed in the range of approximately 115.3–495.8 nm. The particle sizes were approximately 25.0, 21.4, 33.9, and 9.5 nm for $Ni-Co_3O_4, Co-Co_3O_4, Pd-Co_3O_4, and Pt-Co_3O_4$ catalysts, respectively. The increase in NaOH initial concentration provides an increase in the rate of hydrogen generation for Co, Ni, and Pd catalysts. A maximum hydrogen generation rate of 1653 $mL/g_{cat}. min$ was obtained for the $Pt-Co_3O_4$ catalyst.