Robust cellulose fiber/fibrous sepiolite coated RuO-CoP aerogel as monolithic catalyst for hydrogen generation via NaBH hydrolysis.

Commercial carriers have been used to prepare monolithic NaBH hydrolytic catalysts, but the fixed structure and material limit the application scope and design freedom. Herein, the RuO-CoP catalyst is coated on the surface of fibrous sepiolite (RuO-CoP@aSep) by in-situ deposition, annealing in air and phosphating, which is constructed into the aerogel with cellulose nanofiber (CNF) and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) by freeze drying process. The hydrogen generation rate (HGR) of RuO-CoP@aSep increases from 3655 to 10713mLming by adjusting the mass ratio of cobalt to ruthenium in RuO-CoP. Moreover, the optimized composite aerogel can get HGR (5268mLming) by regulating its formulation, and the catalytic activity and mass loss rate of the aerogel maintains 76.6 and 0.92 % after five cycles of testing. The synergistic interaction between Ru and Co species, micro-nano porous structure, and structural coupling provide good catalytic activity and cycling performance, and show great potential in the design of controllable NaBH hydrolyzed monolithic catalysts.