Cobalt-Supported Clay as Catalytic Film Prepared by Electrophoretic Deposition for Hydrogen Release Applications

Abstract

Shaped catalyst is much more practical than powder catalyst when the material is intended to technological applications. Nevertheless, shaping a reactive powder catalyst is not evident, loss in reactivity occurring by e.g. decreasing specific surface area. Addressing such problem has been our objective. The present paper reports methods and results about the shaping of a lab-made cobalt supported clay catalyst over a stainless steel plate (SSP) taken as substrate. The deposition method chosen is electrophoretic deposition (EPD). Clay has been chosen owing to its abundance and greenness. Herein, we report that it is feasible to make a Co-Clay-SSP shaped catalyst by EPD in a two-step process. Typically, the supported Co-Clay has first to be prepared by wet impregnation and then the as-obtained powder is deposited over the substrate by EPD. Such shaped catalyst is intended to be used in NaBH4 hydrolysis, a well known route for on-demand release of hydrogen.