A stoichiometric amount of hydrogen was generated by catalytic hydrolysis reaction of lithium borohydride solution over nano-sized platinum dispersed on LiCoO2 (Pt-LiCoO2). The catalyst was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS). Analysis showed that the particles size of platinum was about 2 run and they are dispersed on LiCoO2. The H-2 generation rate was expressed by the zero order rate equation and increased with an increase of the catalyst content. Compared with a mixture of Pt and LiCoO2, catalytic properties of Pt-LiCoO2 was superior. The reason proposed for the higher catalytic activity of Pt-LiCoO2 was the small platinum particle size. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.