Hydrolysis of sodium borohydride catalyzed by graphitic carbon nitride-supported rhodium/iron nanoparticles

In this study, graphite carbon nitride-supported RhFe nanoparticles (RhFe/g-C3N4) were prepared by the impregnation-reduction method and used as a catalyst in sodium borohydride (NaBH4) hydrolysis reaction. The obtained RhFe/g-C3N4 catalyst was then characterized by advanced spectroscopic techniques such as ICP-OES, SEM, TEM, P-XRD, and XPS. According to the findings, the cycle frequency (TOF) value of the most efficient Rh0.48Fe0.52/g-C3N4 catalyst was calculated as 33.04 min-¹ and H₂ production rate (HGR) was calculated as 4214.02 mL-H₂-min-¹-gcat-¹. Moreover, the activation parameters for the NaBH4 hydrolysis reaction catalyzed by the RhFe/g-C3N4 catalyst were 66.20 (Ea#), 63.68 (ΔH#), and -149.53 (ΔS#), respectively. More importantly, in the hydrolysis reaction of NaBH4, the Rh0.48Fe0.52/g-C3N4 catalyst retains 80.72% of its initial catalytic activity after the previous cycle.