Hydrogen and ammonia are both potential energy carriers being considered for large scale energy transport. Sodium borohydride (NaBH_4) has been widely applied as a potential solid-state hydrogen storage material. It can produce hydrogen gas and sodium metaborate (NaB0_2) after hydrolysis with water at room temperature. The regeneration of NaBH_4 from NaB0_2 could significantly reduce the cost of NaBH_4 and enable its wide-spread industrial use. In this work, we demonstrate a simple method for regenerating NaBH_4 from NaB0_2. ·4H_2O using Mg_2N_3, which combines NaBH_4 production with NH_3 gas production in a single step at room temperature. NaBH_4 is successfully synthesized from NaB0_2-4H_20 using the Mg_3N_2 reducing agent via ball milling under a hydrogen atmosphere. NaBH_4 is formed at a 76.6 yield by planetary ball milling at 600 rpm under 40 bar hydrogen for 12 h. NH_3 gas is also formed, which can be easily separated from the solid products. Therefore, this one-step process could produce two different types of carbon-free hydrogen carriers suitable for energy export from renewable sources.
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