Review on Magnesium Hydride and Sodium Borohydride Hydrolysis for Hydrogen Production

Metal hydrides such as MgH2 and NaBH4 are among the materials for with the highest potential solid-state hydrogen storage. However, unlike gas and liquid storage, a dehydrogenation process has to be done prior to hydrogen utilization. In this context, the hydrolysis method is one of the possible methods to extract or generate hydrogen from the materials. However, problems like the MgH2 passivation layer, high cost and sluggish self-hydrolysis of NaBH4 are the known limiting factors for this process, but they can be overcome with the help of catalysts. In this works, selected studies have been reviewed on the performance of catalysts like chloride, oxide, fluoride, platinum, ruthenium, cobalt and nickel-based on the MgH2 and NaBH4 system. These studies show a significant enhancement in the amount of hydrogen released as compared to the hydrolysis of the pure MgH2 and NaBH4. Therefore, the addition of catalysts is proven as one of the options in improving hydrogen generation via the hydrolysis of MgH2 and NaBH4.