The increasing dependence of the modern world on fossil fuels has resulted in major economic and environmental crisis. The strain of these events has prompted a deeper investigation into the study of carbon-free fuels. [1] Hydrogen gas is known for its renewable nature when produced by the hydrolysis reaction of water and sodium borohydride. The reaction produces no harmful emissions and results in only environmentally-benign byproducts. [1,2] Platinum nanoparticles were synthesized using beta-cyclodextrin and were adhered onto multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) via an incipient wetness impregnation method. [3-5] The resulting composite was characterized using Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM). TEM confirmed the presence of uniformly shaped 3 nm platinum nanoparticles decorated onto the sidewalls of ~30 nm MWCNTs. Catalytic activity of the composite in a hydrogen evolution reaction was measured. [3-5] The composite best catalyzed the reaction at 303K and a pH of 7 generating hydrogen at a rate of 21.2 mLmin^-1g_cat^-1. Overall, the composite performed well as a catalyst of the hydrolysis of sodium borohydride with the activation energy being calculated to be 46.17 kJmol^-1.

References

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T.M. Pretreatment of gold nanoparticle multi-walled carbon nanotube composites for

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5. Huff, C.; Long, J.; Aboulatta, A.; Heyman, A.; T. Abdel-Fattah, Silver Nanoparticle/Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotube Composite as Catalyst for Hydrogen

Production. ECS J Solid State Sci Technol. 2017, 6, M115-118.