Poly(2-aminoethyl methacrylate) based microgels catalyst system to be used in hydrolysis and methanolysis of NaBH4 for H2 generation
Şahin Demirci, S. Duygu Sütekin, Olgun Güven, Nurettin Şahiner
Abstract
The poly(2-aminoethyl methacrylate) (p(AEM)) microgels were synthesized by microemulsion polymerization technique and used for in situ metal nanoparticle preparation to render as p(AEM)-M (M: Co or Ni) microgel composites and were used in p(AEM) based poly ionic liquid (PIL) microgels. Next, these p(AEM)) based microgel materials were used as catalysts for hydrogen (H 2 ) production from both hydrolysis and methanolysis reactions of sodium borohydride (NaBH 4 ). It was found that the catalytic hydrolysis of the NaBH 4 reaction, catalyzed by p(AEM)-Co microgel composite was completed in 140 min, whereas the methanolysis of NaBH 4 methanolysis catalyzed by the PIL of p(AEM) + Cl − microgels was completed in 5 min both with 250 ± 2 mL H 2 production. Furthermore, p(AEM)-Co microgel composite catalysts maintained 80% catalytic activity after 5 consecutive uses in NaBH 4 hydrolysis. On the other hand, p(AEM) + Cl − microgels were found to afford more than 50% catalytic activity even after 20 repetitive use in NaBH 4 methanolysis due to superior regeneration ability. Moreover, activation energy values for p(AEM)-Co microgel composites catalyzed NaBH 4 hydrolysis reaction were calculated as 38.9 kJ/mol in comparison to 37.3 kJ/mol activation energy of p(AEM) + Cl − microgel catalyzed methanolysis reaction.