Morphological and Elemental Investigations on Co–Fe–B–O Thin Films Deposited by Pulsed Laser Deposition for Alkaline Water Oxidation: Charge Exchange Efficiency as the Prevailing Factor in Comparison with the Adsorption Process

Catalysis Letters - Mixed transition-metals oxide electrocatalysts have shown huge potential for electrochemical water oxidation due to their earth abundance, low cost and excellent...     

Structural evolution of Pd-capped Mg thin films under H2 absorption and desorption cycles

In this paper we present a study on the relation between the evolution, upon successive H₂ cycling, of the crystalline order and the H₂ sorption properties of Pd-capped textured Mg thin films grown on Si and glass substrates.     

Co-P-B catalyst thin films prepared by electroless and pulsed laser deposition for hydrogen generation by hydrolysis of alkaline sodium borohydride: A comparison

Co-P-B catalyst thin films have been synthesized on Ni-foam and glass substrate by using electroless deposition (ED) and pulsed laser deposition (PLD) respectively. The efficiency of these catalyst films was tested by catalytic hydrolysis of NaBH₄ for H₂ generation. While the chemically produced Co-P-B film on Ni-foam shows similar activity as that of their corresponding powder, the Co-P-B film deposited by PLD exhibits much superior H₂ generation rate as compared to Co-P-B powder. We attribute this increased efficiency to the special features of the Co-P-B films which are in the form of nanoparticle-assembled films, a peculiar characteristic of PLD films for appropriate choice of the pulse laser parameters. The surface nanoparticle-configuration increases the active surface area and also favors electronic exchange mechanisms to promote hydrolysis process for H₂ gas generation. The films deposited by using laser energy density of 3 J/cm² show the highest activity in connection to the best configuration of the ablated nanoparticles. Different numbers of Co-P-B layers were deposited on Ni-foam by ED and it was found that at least four layers are required for complete coverage of the foam to have the best activity.