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- Conflict of Interest
- In relation to this article, we declare that there is no conflict of interest.
- Publication history
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Received February 7, 2026
Accepted April 16, 2026
Available online August 25, 2026
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This is an Open-Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/bync/3.0) which permits
unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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Surface Modification Effects on Electrochemical Synthesis of NaBH4 for Hydrogen Storage
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11814-026-00729-9
Abstract
Sodium borohydride, owing to its high hydrogen content and chemical stability, is a promising solid hydrogen storage
material. However, its commercialization is limited by the high cost of conventional thermochemical synthesis. This study
investigated the feasibility of sodium borohydride synthesis via electrochemical reduction of metaborate, with particular
emphasis on the role of electrode surface properties in suppressing the hydrogen evolution reaction and enhancing selectivity.
Boron-doped diamond electrodes were employed as both working and counter electrodes, with surface terminations
controlled electrochemically and characterized by contact angle, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and linear sweep
voltammetry. Under neutral conditions, the boron-doped diamond electrode used as the counter electrode produced a
maximum sodium borohydride yield of 1.8%, demonstrating that hydrogen evolution reaction suppression enables selective
metaborate reduction. O-terminated boron-doped diamond electrode surfaces promoted metaborate ion adsorption
and suppressed the hydrogen evolution reaction, but their surface instability reduced reproducibility. This study provides
design guidelines for next-generation electrodes, highlighting that electrode engineering is essential for cost-effective
sodium borohydride electrosynthesis.
